JESUS IS THE TRUTH

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6

This is the third sermon in a series of four messages on John 14:1-6 and I hope our readers are beginning to see that Jesus is all in all. Jesus is the great I Am. Jesus is the way to eternal life. He is the TRUTH and He is eternal life to all God’s children.

Paul writing to the Ephesian Christians from his prison cell wrote those great chapters on God’s amazing Grace and in that little book of only six chapters, Paul stated, "...as the truth is in Jesus." Ephesians 4:21

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk, not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the Truth is in Jesus." Ephesians 4:17-21

Through the centuries Satan has attacked the truth and that is because the Great Controversy is between the Lord Jesus Christ and Satan. The Word of God is truth and Christ Jesus is the truth. Jesus is called the Word of God.

"And he (Jesus Christ) was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called the Word of God." Revelation 19:13

"Satan has wrought with deceiving power, bringing in a multiplicity of errors that obscure truth. Error could not stand alone, and would soon become extinct, if it did not fasten itself like a parasite upon the tree of truth. Error draws its life form the truth of God. The traditions of men, like floating germs, attach themselves to the truth of God, and men regard them as a part of truth. Through false doctrines Satan gains a foothold, and captivates the minds of men, causing them to hold theories that have no foundation in truth. Men boldly teach for doctrines the commandments of men, and as traditions pass on from age to age, they acquire a power over the human mind. But age does not make error truth, neither does its burdensome weight cause the plant of truth to become a parasite. The tree of truth bears its own genuine fruit, showing its truth origin and nature. The parasite of error also bears its own fruit, and makes manifest that its character is diverse from the planet of heavenly origin." (Letter 43-1895), Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, PP 1094-1095.

Satan is against God. So the spirit of parasite, the wrong spirit is given to deceive you! Friends, the Devil knows man is a religious being and so he gives the world an anti-christ.

"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an anti-christ." II John V7.

Here is a Biblical truth that will forever stand the test. You can measure anyone by what he believes about the Lord Jesus Christ. What you believe about Jesus Christ will determine whether you follow the anti-christ or the truth Lord Jesus Christ. Here is another Biblical thought that will stand the test. If a person is wrong about Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter what he is right about.

Jesus came to reveal the Father. He came in truth as the full and final revelation of God, but the vast population of His generation never received Him as such. They rejected the very truth that God had sent to show forth what heaven and eternal life are all about. Not even Pilate recognized the truth. Even though Pilate could find no fault in Jesus, he asked, "What is Truth?"

"Pilate saith unto him, what is truth?..." John 18:38. How sad, the truth is standing before Pilate and he does not recognize it. Friend ,the same has been true down through the ages. Men love darkness rather than Light. "The way of the wicked is as darkness; they know not at what they stumble.:" Proverbs 4:19

During my travels as an Evangelist conducting revivals, I’ve seen a few people shout as they came up out of the baptismal waters and I’ve heard the local Pastor say, "now brother/sister go on out and live for the Lord, go walk like you shout." Jesus walked the life, the life of truth.

Jesus came as the Emmanuel! God with us! And from the beginning of His life on earth until His death on the cross, Jesus walked the truth! What a great testimony of truth.

"And shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us," Matthew 1:21-23. Jesus the God/man came to live among men, to walk the truth and show us the Father.

"And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you CONVINCETH me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believeth me?" John 8:45-56. Jesus walking the truth is a conqueror and victor. He never leads a battle or war to defeat. He never commands a retreat from or a surrender to Satan. That great truth is set forth during the 40 days of the threefold temptation in the wilderness. Matthew 4:1-11

"When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it." Matthew 27:24

"Then said Pilate to the Chief Priests and to the people, I FIND NO FAULT in this man." Luke 23:4

Pilate voiced the perplexity of multitudes when he asked, "What Is Truth?" And he also expressed the mind of many when he said, "I find no fault in this man." Even though all do not look at Jesus from the standpoint of Him being the Son of God; nevertheless they can find no fault in Him. Truth is not found in a system of philosophy, but in a person - Christ, who is the truth. He reveals the true God and exposes sinful man. Christ Jesus is our all in all. He is all the treasures of truth, wisdom, and knowledge. Colossians 2:3

Crucified as thieves, there was one on each side of Jesus. Crucified as criminals, but Jesus was crucified as the perfect and innocent one. There on that cross in the center Jesus died for sinners. Jesus, friend, is Lord of men, Lord of Angles, Lord over devils. And the time will come when every tongue shall confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father. He is coming again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

"And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Matthew 7:28-29

"And because I tell you the truth, ye believe not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?" John 8:45-46

Someone gave the thought in past generations, "truth is always on a scaffold and a lie is always on a throne." How true that is. Friend, a lie can travel all across the country while the truth only gets to the next block. That’s the way it was in Jesus’ day. They crucified the Son of God. The People stood at Mount Calvary and jeered (they scoffed) at the Savior, who had told them the truth.

George Washington, our first President said, he could not lie about cutting down the cherry tree. Jesus never lied about anything. Will Rogers, a great American celebrity of another time said, "I never saw a man that I did not like." Jesus never saw a person that He did not love.

Abraham, Moses, Job, Isaiah, Paul, Peter, and John were all good men. But they never lived up to the full expectation that Ezekiel wrote about. There was no one to make up the hedge and stand in the gap until the Son of God came from heaven to Earth.

"The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I (God) sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." Ezekiel 22:29-30

What faith needs to lay hold of is the glorious truth that Christ has come down, all the way down to sinners. Just as He did when Israel left Egypt. God said to Moses, "...I am come down." Neither Israel, nor the individual could come to God, but God in the person of His Son has come to save sinners. The theme of the Bible is salvation. The person of the Bible is Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God.

Now, friend, no one has ever lived like Jesus. He is all alone when it comes to how He lived. We can say in truth there never has been person a like the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Jesus lived a life of love and compassion. He went about doing good. Jesus loved all kinds of people. "For God so loved the world..." The whole world - all nations, kindreds, and tongues.

2. His life was a life of forgiving sinners. Sinners came to Jesus and Jesus went to people in order to teach the way of salvation. He is the Friend of sinners. From all eternity that was the purpose of coming down to Earth. Man could not climb up, fly up; nor talk himself into heaven. There must be ONE greater than men and angels. That ONE is the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth.

3. Jesus went about healing the sick and diseased and according to the Holy Scriptures, He raised three people from the dead. That forever proves Him to be the Son of God, the God/man.

4. Our Savior, Christ Jesus lived a perfect, pure, sinless, holy life without spot or blemish. He is the perfect Lamb of God and man’s perfect Substitute and Sacrifice. We are saved by His blood! We are saved by His life!

Dear reader, these ministries believe in the precious blood of our Lord! WE firmly believe in the blood atonement; however we also believe in the perfect life, the complete holy living of the Savior.

"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Romans 5:9-10

His perfect and holy life of righteousness is given to us as a free gift. But even, more than that, His life, living the truth in perfect obedience SECURED the blood and we see that in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Thank God, friend, for our Lord living the truth. When our Lord came out of that tomb, it meant altogether, it meant once and for all that the whole Universe had accepted God’s Sacrifice for sin and the blood atonement paid the great price for our salvation.

Now, can we not see clearly why Jesus living the truth is so very important. The Lord practiced during His life time and even on the cross His last few hours what He preached in the sermon on the mount. Lets thank God for the life He lived, His death on the cross and His glorious resurrection from the grave. Friend, the tomb is empty!

"...as the truth is in Jesus." Ephesians 4:21

Bernard says: "The name of Jesus is honey to the mouth, music to the ears, and gladness to the heart." I remember a theme song we sang in one of my Bible classes:

"Take the name of Jesus with you,

Child of sorrow and of woe;

It will joy and comfort give you,

Take it then where’er you go."

Let us close our sermon with the great and wonderful name of Jesus. Let all your actions be undertaken in the NAME of Jesus. "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." Colossians 3:17

In all things may our testimony of mouth be "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name." Matthew 6:9

In our warfare against devils and evil, may our testimony be "And the seventy returned again with joy, saying Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name." Luke 10:17

In all our days may our prayer be "Father, glorify thy name." John 12:28

May we, at the end of life’s brief day, be able to say, as Jesus said: "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, an thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word..." "And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." John 17:6,26

For those who, like us, have named His name by faith, may our prayer be "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of Perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled." John 17:11,12

Among those who know Him not, let us have this truth in mind "And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, for this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name." Romans 15:9

May we often say: "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." Revelation 15:4

Doing these things, speaking these words, giving this testimony, we can truly sing:

"Precious name, O how sweet!

Hope of earth and joy of heaven."