Truth is not the Ideas We Believe
… and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. —John 8:32
Most of the ideas that we believe are not truth at all. Look around you at the ideas to solve the challenges and situations in our world and especially our country. It has become quite clear that governments and power cannot, nor will they be solutions. Yet we continue to promote and believe that these ideas speak and promote truth.
The truth of Christ is the answer to setting man and his world free, free from all the prejudice and hate, division and isolation, hatred and bitterness, hostility and war, assault and killing, crime and injustice, enslavements and abuses, emptiness and loneliness, fear and death, selfishness and hoarding, hunger and sickness. This truth will bring real healing to the hurting.
Truth: moral truth, saving truth, working truth, living truth. It is not simply something to be known; it is something to be done. It is the knowledge and the experience of true reality as opposed to false reality. It is truth in “the inward parts”. It is diametrically opposed to sham and hypocrisy. It permits no compromise with evil. It even abstains from the appearance of evil. It is a regard for truth in every respect: believing it, reverencing it, speaking it, acting it, hoping in it, and rejoicing in it. Such truthful behavior frees a person from all the bondages and impediments of life.
The truth sets men free from the shadow of doubt and despair. Man no longer has to grasp and grope about to know the truth, whether it be the truth of God or of his own world. Jesus Christ has revealed the truth: the nature, the meaning, and the destiny of all things.
The truth sets men free from the bondages of sin. Man no longer has to grasp after the power to overcome; nor does he have to struggle against the weight of guilt. The search for deliverance and for the power to conquer, to overcome, to attain, and to live is now over. It is all found in Jesus Christ.
The truth sets men free from the bondage of death. Man no longer has to be subjected to the fear of death. Jesus Christ—by His death and resurrection—has now conquered death. In His death and resurrection man now has the most glorious of hopes: he can now live eternally.
The truth sets men free from the bondage of judgment and hell. The darkness of an unknown future and the apprehension of an impending judgment constantly faces man. At best, man can only hope for annihilation, and he shudders at the thought. At worst, he can expect torture by the gods that be, and he trembles at the possibility. But Jesus Christ has revealed the truth. He Himself has borne the judgment and the punishment of judgment for man.
Existence, love, joy, peace, satisfaction, pleasure, hope—nothing has to be incomplete any longer. No good thing ever again has to be denied man. Jesus Christ, the Truth, is able to save man to the uttermost—completely, perfectly, finally, and eternally. All a person has to do is to come to Christ for salvation, for Christ lives forever to intercede for every man.
You can know the truth and when you know the truth you will be set free. Now that’s an idea you can believe.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. —2 Corinthians 3:17-18
