Would you turn back to John 18? And tonight, we're going to observe
the Lord's table together, and we're also going to have a dinner
tonight together after church. And if after the service this
morning, some of you men can set the tables up, that would
be helpful. I want you to listen to the majesty
of these words. The latter part of verse 37, To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. And then Pilate's reply was truth. What is truth? Do you want to know the answer
to Pilate's question? What is truth? Now, I dare say
that everyone would automatically say, of course I do. But do you
really? Do you really want to know the
truth? Do you want to know the truth
about yourself? We're all three people. Every
one of us. We're the people we think we
are. We're the people others think we are. And we're the people
God knows we are. Do you want to know the truth
about yourself? Do you really want to know the
truth concerning God? His true character? Do you really
want to know the truth concerning how He operates? How He saves
sinners? Do you want to know the truth? What is truth? What a question! What is truth? It is the reality lying at the
basis of the appearance. It is the essence of the matter.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the essence of the matter. He himself is the expression
of truth to this degree. He didn't say, I'll teach you
the truth. He didn't say, I'll demonstrate
to you the truth. He didn't say, I'll guide you
to the truth. He didn't say, I'll explain the
truth to you. He said, I am the truth. What a powerful statement, because
I think, what if I said that about myself? I am the truth. I feel a lot more comfortable
with what the songwriter said when he said, false and full
of sin I am. Thou art full of truth and grace. He himself is the truth. Now, hearing the truth is a dangerous
thing. Because with hearing the truth
comes great responsibility. You see, the truth is authoritative. If I preach the truth this morning,
me and you are responsible. It's a dangerous thing. You know,
I'm preaching for a verdict. I'm not just preaching for you
to, well, you know, take it or leave it. No, I'm preaching for
a verdict. And it is a dangerous thing to
hear the truth. When you hear the truth, you
know it's the truth. The truth is self-evident. It needs no
help. It needs no embellishment. Man's problem is he seeks to
suppress the truth. Let me show you that in Romans
chapter 1. Hold your finger there in John 18, turn to Romans 1. Verse 18. For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold. Now that word hold is hold down. Hold down, suppress the truth
in unrighteousness. They hear the truth and they
don't like what it says. So they hold it down. They don't
like it. And beware, Paul speaks of those
who receive not the love of the truth. Did you hear that? He
speaks of those who receive not the love of the truth that they
might be saved and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusions
that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
Now, in the Scripture, salvation is described in 1 Timothy 2.4
as coming to the knowledge of the truth. In Titus chapter 1,
verse 1, Faith is defined as the faith of God's elect, the
acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness. In 2 Timothy
2, 25, when repentance is defined, it's defined as if God will grant
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. There is no spiritual
birth. There is no spiritual life apart
from the truth. James 1.18 says, Of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth. Listen to this scripture. 2 Thessalonians 2.13 But we're
bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now, here are two things that
cannot be separated. The sanctifying work of God, the Holy Spirit,
and the belief of the truth. Now, our Lord said for this cause
came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Now, what I'm going to do, I'm
going to look at every verse in the Gospel of John that deals
with the truth, that uses the word Now, would you turn with
me to John, chapter 1. Verse 14. And the Word, the eternal Word,
was made 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." Now, he himself is the embodiment of truth. He said, I am the truth. And
this passage of Scripture says he's full grace and full of truth. Now, that tells me the truth
has something to do with grace. Look in verse 18. No man has seen. No, I'm sorry, verse 17. For
the law was given by Moses and the law is true. Who's going
to deny it? God wrote the law. It's true. There's no error in
it. It's true. But he says. Grace. And truth came by Jesus
Christ. The law is true. The law is not
the truth. Now, do you hear that? The law
is true, but the law is not the truth. You see, the truth is
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That's
the truth. And the law doesn't give the
whole truth, does it? It gives true things, but it
doesn't give the whole truth. And if all I tell is part of
the truth, I'm telling a lie. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now that tells me, in
no uncertain terms, that the truth has something to do with
the grace of God, the unmerited favor of God. How do you save
sinners? By grace! You are saved. Peter said, but
we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we'll
be saved just like them. Saving grace. That's the truth.
Saving grace. Now, when you're talking about
God's grace, we're talking about electing grace. Grace that chose
who would be saved before time began. And if someone says anything
contrary to that, they're liars. They lie. They do not tell the
truth. They're liars not to be listened
to. Grace has something to do with
justifying grace that makes me stand without fault before God. Redeeming grace that pays for
all my sins. Regenerating grace that gives
me life before God. Preserving grace that keeps me.
Glorifying grace that makes me just like the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, anything contrary to grace, sovereign grace, God's grace,
saving grace, is a lie. Grace. Truth has something to
do with grace, and I tell you, I love the grace of God. Thank
God for grace. Thank God for His truth. Turn
to John chapter 3, beginning in verse 19. And this is the condemnation
that light has come into the world. And men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither comes to the light lest
his deeds should be reproved or exposed or discovered. That's why they don't want to
come to the light. But he that, what's the next word? Doeth truth. Now understand this about truth.
Truth is something you do. It's not just giving assent to
some facts and saying, I agree with that. I believe that's what
the Bible says. That's not it. The truth is something you do. Not just give agreement to, but
you do it. Let's go on reading. But he that
doeth truth comes to the light that his deeds might be made
manifest, that they are wrought in God. that they're worked by
God. Now, I'm not afraid to come to
the light of God's holiness. And I'm not afraid to bring my
faith before Him. And here's why. I know it's God's
gift. I know it came from Him. I know
it was wrought in Him and by Him. Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Paul said, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. You see, I'm not afraid to come
to the light because I know anything in me is what he did. Paul put it this way. It's God
that worketh in you, both to will and to do. His good pleasure. Now, if your
faith is wrought by God, you're not afraid to bring that to the
light, are you? If the nature you have is wrought by God, you're
not afraid to bring that to the light. If the righteousness you
have is wrought by God, you're not afraid to bring that to the
light. You'll bring everything to the light if your salvation
is God's work. Now, if you think it has something
to do, you'll be afraid to come to that light because all it's
going to do is expose you. But he that doeth the truth, he comes
to the light, that his deeds might be made manifest, that
they are wrought in God. Now turn to John chapter 4. Verse 22, the Lord is speaking
to the woman at the well. And he says, You worship you
know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews, but the hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. God is spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Now here's
the two requirements for worship. I want to worship God, don't
you? Whatever it means to worship, I want to worship the living
God. Two requirements. First, Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit. You know, I've said this before.
I don't, now, won't you come worship with us? I don't know
whether you can or not. That's not something a natural
man can do. I don't say to men indiscriminately come and worship
with us. Only the Lord can enable somebody to worship by spirit.
It takes God the Holy Spirit to worship. Now, I must have
God the Holy Spirit or I can't worship Him. I've got to be given
life by the Holy Spirit. I must have Him. I must have
spirit and I must have truth. The truth of the gospel, there
is no worship of God apart from the truth as it is in Christ
Jesus. Now, here are two things that
cannot be separated. God the Holy Spirit and truth. And in order for there to be
true worship, I must have God the Spirit and I must have the
truth. John 8. God, the Holy Spirit, I want
you to remember, never acts independently of the truth. Verse 32. Our Lord says to his disciples,
and you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you
free. Can somebody know the truth? They sure can. The Lord says
you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you
free. Now understand this, it's not your knowledge of the truth
that makes you free. It's the truth himself. It's the same
one who said, if the sun shall make you free, you'll be free
indeed. It's not your understanding of the truth that sets you free,
because really, you don't understand the truth well enough. You really
don't, nor do I. You know, as far as what we believe,
I know what I believe, but I know so little. So little. And my understanding is, I get
it, but it's not, well, I really understand that, therefore I'm
set free. No! It's the truth Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who sets you free by paying for your sins, by giving you righteousness,
by interceding for you before the Father. It's not your knowledge
of the truth that makes you free, but know this, it's the truth
Himself who makes you free. Look in John 8, 43. The Lord
says, Why do you not understand my
speech? Because you can't. I love that. You're just not
able. You're not able. You can't. You
can't understand my word. He says in verse 44, you're of
your father the devil, and the lust of your father you'll do.
He was a murderer from the beginning and a bow knot in the truth,
because there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he's a liar and the father of it. And because
I tell you the truth, you don't believe me. Which of you convinces
me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do
you not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's
words. You therefore hear them not,
because you're not of God. Now, I love that plain language. He that's of God He hears the
truth. He responds to the truth. He
believes the truth. You don't believe me? Here's
why. You're not of God. That's what he says, isn't it?
You're not of God. That's why you don't believe. I've got this
assurance. If I preach the truth, everybody that's of the truth
is going to believe. I'm not worried about it. I don't
make believers. God does. Everybody that's of
the truth heareth His voice. Turn to John 16. John chapter 16. Verse 13, How be it when He, the Spirit
of truth, that's the Holy Spirit, He's called the Spirit of truth,
has come. He will guide you into all truth. For He'll not speak
of Himself. But whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak. He'll show you things to come.
This is the work of the Spirit of God. He will guide you into
all truth. Now turn to John 17. Verse 17. This is our Lord's great high
priestly prayer for his people. And he says in verse 17, sanctify
them. How? Through thy truth. There's no sanctification apart
from the truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for
their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified.
How? Through the truth. And then in
our text, that's every time the word truth is mentioned. And
then in our text, in verse 37, Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I born. And for this cause came I into
the world that I should bear witness. Now that word bear witness
is where we get the word martyr from. One who bears witness by
his death. And I don't have any doubt that
when our Lord said he came to bear witness to the truth, he's
referring to the cross. This is bearing witness to the
truth. He bears witness to the truth
by his death. Jesus of Nazareth. Please listen
carefully. Jesus of Nazareth. The uncreated
son of God, lived a perfect life. He never sinned. In thought, in word, in deed. He never sinned. He knew no sin. Yet, he was nailed
to a tree. I mean, they took spikes and
they drove them through his hands and his feet and lifted it up
at cross and stand and there he hangs. And as he bleeds and
dies, he bears witness to the truth. Now, do you want to know
the truth? Remember, Paul said, what is
truth? What is truth? With the Lord's help, by the
grace of God, I'm going to preach the truth to you. right now. You see that one hanging on a
tree? That is the truth concerning
all of God's eternal purpose. That's the truth. Christ is called
in Revelation 13, the Lamb slain from the very foundation of the
world. That's the truth. This has always
been God's purpose. To glorify himself, to make himself
known through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want
to know what God's eternal purpose is. Remember what Peter said
to that crowd in Acts chapter 2? He said, Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Everything
that happened regarding his cross. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. And you with wicked hands
have crucified and slain him. That's the truth concerning God's
purpose. His purpose has always been to
manifest His glory in the cross. Now, secondly, there's the truth
concerning God's purpose, the cross, and everything that's
associated with it. Secondly, here is the truth regarding
the true character of all men, if left to themselves. Turn with
me to Luke chapter 23. Verse 18, And they cried out all at once,
saying, Away with this man. Notice the word man is in italics.
Away with this not even worthy to be, this nothing is what they're
saying. Away with this nothing. And release
unto us Barabbas, who for a certain sedition made in the city, and
for murder, was cast into prison. Pilate, therefore, willing to
release Jesus, spake again to them, but they cried, saying,
Crucify him! Crucify him! And he said unto
them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I found no
cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise him,
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priests prevailed, and Pilate gave sentence,
that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
had desired, but he delivered Jesus to their will. God knows this about you and
me. I'm not talking down at you.
I hope you understand that. I'm saying the same thing about
myself. God knows this about me and you. If it were in our power, we'd kill His Son. And that's
the proof about you. If you had your will, If God
left you to your own wish, your own desire, if He left you to
yourself, here's the direction you'd go. Here's the direction
I'd go. I'd kill His Son. I don't like the way His Son
is. I don't like His holiness. I don't like His claims. We will
not have this man reign over us. We'd kill Him. Now, if I
knew somebody's desire was to kill my daughter, that person's
my enemy. And you know, you feel the same
way. If someone actually wanted to kill your child, that person
would be your enemy. This lets us know that all men
by nature are enemies of God. Oh, what a horrible thing. This
is the truth. You want to know the truth about
men. I'm talking about me. I'm talking
about you. What we are by nature, completely evil. Completely. No goodness whatsoever. Oh, we might clean up all right
on the outside. We might do good things and nice
things and all that kind of stuff. But I'm talking about what God
sees when he looks into my heart. I'd kill his son if it were in
my power. I'd kill him if it were in my power. I'd get him
off the throne and put myself in his stead. Now, that's the
truth. That's the truth regarding you
and I. You believe that? It's so. You know, I tell you what, if
you believe that, you won't be arguing against God's way of
saving. Somebody says, how can it be
fair for God to elect some and pass by others? Oh, no, you know
what's fair for you is if you know that you're not going to
be arguing. You know, the only reason people argue over the
Gospels, they don't really believe they're evil. If you really believe
you're evil, you're not going to have any objections to the
truth of how God saves sinners by His grace. Now, that's the
truth regarding all men. in their innermost being. That's
the truth. Completely evil. You know, the
Lord even said to his disciples, he said, if you, he's talking
about, he's talking to his disciples, people who were believers, people
who he'd done a work of grace in their heart. Yet he said to
them, if you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more so your heavenly father. See,
he's talking to people who God was their father. Yet he said
to them, if you then being evil. So the only people who know this
are believers. Nobody else really agrees with
it. They can see some goodness in them, some merit, but a believer
knows better. The cross. It's the truth regarding
God's eternal purpose. It's the truth regarding the
true character of man. And the cross is the truth regarding
the true character of the God of the Bible. God is, as the scripture reveals
him to be, you can't know God apart from what this book says.
It's the word of God. And this is God's revelation
of himself. He discloses himself. He tells
us what he's like. And it's the cross. It's the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that tells us what God is really
like. All His attributes are displayed
in the cross. I mean, I look at the Lord hanging
on the cross and I see God's utter hatred of sin. When sin is found even on His
Son, what does God do? He puts Him to death. God hates
sin. I see the utter justice of God. God's not going to let the guilty
go free. If you're guilty, you're going
to be punished. I see that in the cross. The sins of God's
elect became Christ. He became guilty of them. He
was made sin and God punished him. What would you think of
a judge that let the guilty go free? We'd get rid of him, wouldn't
we? We don't want a judge like that.
God is not going to let the guilty go free. Oh, we see the justice.
We see the holiness of God. But how we see the love of God,
that He would give His Son for me. I don't understand that. How
that God would look at me and He would give His Son to die
in my place. Oh, I see the wisdom of God. What wisdom that He's actually
made a way to be just and be righteous, and yet justify somebody
like me. What wisdom there is. He's made
a way to where He remains the lawgiver, the just one who will
by no means clear the guilty, and yet He's made a way to clear
somebody like me when in and of myself I am guilty. But he's
made a way that honors his justice and the justice of God actually
demands my salvation. Now, only God can come up with
something like that. Oh, the wisdom of God. What about the
power of God displayed in the cross? Here's his power. His power has made it so that
my sin is not. No sin. Now, that's power, isn't
it? The power of the cross makes
me perfectly conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So when God looks at me, he sees nothing but that which he's pleased
with. What power there is in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how his sovereignty is displayed. This is his will being done.
I think it's glorious that there were two other crosses beside
him. One, the man as he lived in venom, so he died, hating
God. And he's in hell right now. And
there was another. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. And he said, this day, verily
I say unto you, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.
He demonstrated his sovereignty even at that time. Why did the
one thief believe and the other didn't? I know why the one thief
believed. He gave him faith. Every attribute of God is displayed
in the death of Christ. Now, the cross. Christ said,
I came to bear witness to the truth. Here I see God's eternal
purpose. Here I see my true nature. Here I see the true character
of God. But here's what I like to think about the most. In Christ
bearing witness to the truth by his death, I see salvation. Hear these words. It is finished. I'm completely saved. It's finished. Nothing left undone.
It is finished. Now let me show you this in the
scripture. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, this is not something that ever
had to be repeated, he sat down on the right hand of God from
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool
for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now, beloved, that means that
if Jesus Christ died for you, you're already perfected forever. It's not something that can be
added to. It's not something that can be increased or diminished.
I'm perfected forever. Now, here's the truth regarding
salvation. He finished it. He finished it, and I stand complete
in Him. I stand holy, unblameable, and
unreprovable in His sight. Now, that's the truth. That's
the truth. You know who the real me is?
You don't see it. You see the old me. The real
me is what He did for me and in me. That's the real me, and
that's the one He sees. What God sees is what I really
am. That's the truth. That's the truth. And if you're
of the truth, you rejoice in that and glory in it. Now, if
you don't like it, you're just not of the truth. You know, he
that's of God, hears God's words. Somebody says, I don't like this.
Well, you're not of God then. It's that simple. You're not
of God. He that's of God, heareth God's words. And here's the truth about heaven. What's heaven going to be like?
You know, this place is so temporary. And, you know, as believers,
we're just sojourning here anyway, aren't we? We're just passing
through, waiting for it all to be over with. I mean, we're passing
through. We're looking for a city which has foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. Oh, we're looking for the city
of God, heaven. And this place is just temporary.
What's heaven going to be like? Streets of gold, pearly gates,
Angels floating around, clouds, people plucking on a harpsichord. I think the fact that the streets
are paved with gold tells us how worthless gold is in that
place. It's just not even an issue. John said, I saw a door opened
into heaven. And you know what he saw when he
saw that door opened into heaven? He heard of the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, which had prevailed to take the book and open the
seals thereof. He heard of the Lion of the tribe
of Judah. But when he looked and saw the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, you know what he saw? He said, Behold,
I saw a Lamb, as it had been slain. And what was the song of that
great heavenly choir? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. You know, that's what they sing
about in eternity past. That's what they're going to
be singing about in heaven. And in a much feebler voice, that's
what we sing of here. When this poor, lisping, stammering
tongue lie silent in the grave, then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save." That's the truth about heaven.
But let me give you one last thing. And I'm telling you the
truth. The cross is the truth. Regarding
God's eternal purpose, It's the truth regarding the true character
of man, the true character of God, salvation and heaven. The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the truth. But I want to tell
you something else. If you come to Him, He won't
cast you out. Now that's the truth. I don't
care who you are. I don't care how sinful you are. I don't care
how blind you are. I don't care how helpless you
are. I don't care how without strength you are. Don't wait
for anything. Don't wait till you learn more.
Don't wait till you have more understanding. Don't wait till
you get better. Don't wait till you get more settled. Come to
Christ right now. What's it mean to come to Him?
It means to believe on Him. It means to trust who He is and
what He did right now as all you need to make you perfect
before God. So that when God sees you, Because
of the cross, He sees you as holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. And God's command to you is to
believe on His Son. This is not good advice. This
is God's command. But what if I'm not one of the
elect? You don't need to worry about that. You come to Christ
right now. But what if He didn't die for
me? You don't need to be worried about that. I'll tell you this.
He said, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out for
no reason whatsoever. You come to Christ as an empty
handed sinner. You come to Christ with no merit. You come to Christ with no experience
to commend you. You come to Christ empty handed. God be merciful to me, the sinner. He'll receive you. He'll embrace
you. He's already done it. That's the truth. Let's pray.