WWUTT 993 What is Truth?

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What is truth? That's a question that Pilot asked of Jesus, and the answer is not difficult, nor is it really all that controversial.

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It's when you start giving examples of truth that people get offended, when we understand the text. Many of the

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Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the

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Gospel of John, and I'm going to return to chapter 18 with Jesus' conversation between he and Pilot, starting in verse 33.

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So Pilot entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, Are you the king of the

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Jews? Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?

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Pilot answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me.

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What have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.

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If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the

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Jews, but my kingdom is not of the world. Then Pilot said to him,

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So you are a king. Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose

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I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.

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Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Pilot said to him, What is truth?

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After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, I find no guilt in him.

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But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the king of the

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Jews? And they cried out again, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

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I wanted to come back to this again today because I wanted to explore this question that Pilot asked of Jesus.

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What is truth? Now this is really a debated question that Pilot has asked of Jesus.

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It's a debated question anyway. Philosophers have been debating this question for well over a thousand years.

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But related to the way that Pilot asked it of Jesus, that's even been debated.

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What did Pilot mean? Was he being sarcastic? Was he genuinely curious?

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Was he pontificating? Like mocking Jesus somehow in the way that he was asking that question?

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Maybe he considered the truth was not relevant to this matter at all. And I think I kind of alluded to that a little bit yesterday.

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With Pilot believing, Hey, whatever I say goes. So what difference does it make what truth is?

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Or was he musing to himself? Was it Jesus asserting something and making

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Pilot have to kind of stop and think about, I don't know, never really considered what the truth is before.

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What is truth? Can we know what truth is? Now we don't really know the correct vocal inflection here.

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What actually was Pilot's intention with this question? What was the condition of his heart when he asked it?

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We don't know. So we can only speculate about those things. But nevertheless, the question remains an important one.

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What is truth? I think there's a very simple answer to this question.

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Here it is. Very simply, we can go into something very deeply philosophical. You may not be the philosopher type, and it could surely bore you to death.

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But here is a very basic definition of truth. Truth is what is.

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Truth is what is real. It's what is actual. This desk is hard.

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Okay, I'm knocking on it. That's truth. It's a true statement. It's a hard desk. North is that way, right?

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And that has to be true for everybody. The direction of North has to be true for everyone.

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Otherwise, everybody's going to get mixed up on their directions. So there has to be a fixed point.

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And that fact is therefore true for everyone. North is this direction.

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South is that direction. East is over there. West is over here. And this is how we gauge how we're to tell a person where to go.

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Because everybody's compass points the same way. You have to operate by the same compass.

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If you don't, then everybody is lost. Right? So truth is what is.

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It's what is real. It is fact. It is actual. And for the most part, people do not have any problem with truth.

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Everybody believes in truth. Even the moral relativist believes in truth. The moral relativist, the guy that says there is no such thing as truth?

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No, he still believes in truth because he just said something that he believed was true.

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He believes that words have meanings. And therefore, the words that he just formed conveys something in his mind, something that he wanted you to think about himself, which is exactly why he told you his views about truth, that there is no such thing as truth.

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He might be a walking contradiction, but he nevertheless believes that there are such things as true, actual, factual, real statements.

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No one is really all that offended with the truth. When you assert truth,

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I mean, there can be certain true statements that will set people off, that will offend people.

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Where the offense comes in is typically where you tell a person they're wrong.

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It's not necessarily saying this is true. It's saying this is true. Therefore, that is false.

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That's what really sets people off. That's what gets people offended. A child in the womb is a living person.

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OK, somebody will probably disagree with you on that statement. And then you go, therefore, to kill that person is murder.

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And what you're doing is wrong. Well, that's what will throw people into a tizzy. And in fact, it's that statement that is causing

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Twitter to remove certain people from Twitter. They're suspending their accounts. They're deleting them from Twitter because a person said abortion is murder.

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Not just that the child in the womb is a person. Twitter or whoever it is that's behind that platform probably does not have an issue with someone saying that a child in the womb is a person.

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There are pregnant women who believe that, that they are having a baby and they're planning for that baby and they're already naming the baby.

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They have colors picked out in a room and they've ordered and are attempting to assemble a crib.

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They are preparing for this baby and it delights them that they have a little person inside the womb growing and will one day make their debut.

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So that woman believes that child is a person. No offense there. But then when you say, therefore, since all children in the womb are persons, they are entitled to the rights of personhood.

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And that means the right to life. Therefore, to kill that child is murder.

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That is wrong. And you should have incurred upon you all the penalties that a murderer would get because you kill a child in the womb.

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Now a person is incensed. Now they're crazy mad at the fact that you just told them you just called them a murderer at heart, whether or not they've had an abortion.

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Because you have just said that to kill a child in the womb is therefore murder. And they're beside themselves.

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This is the point where truth has become offensive when you show that because this is true, therefore, that is false because the child in womb is a person.

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Therefore, to kill that person would be murder. And it's wrong. Now a person's mad that that's where that's where the truth becomes offensive.

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Jesus is standing in front of pilot and he is saying that he bears witness to the truth.

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Therefore, anyone who is opposed to what Jesus is saying is wrong.

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Now, Jesus doesn't say that. Maybe it's being conveyed here to pilot.

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Maybe pilots receiving that, you know, Jesus saying, I am the truth. And therefore, if you object to me, you're wrong.

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Pilots response to that is what is truth. So it's almost as if pilot would be responding to Jesus by saying, well, we can't know what truth is anyway.

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So how do I know what you're saying is true? How do you know that you're the truth?

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If we can't know what truth is now, once again, that's speculative because we don't know what pilots inflection there was supposed to be.

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What we do know is this. Jesus is the truth. Remember, and I made this statement yesterday,

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John 14, 6. Jesus said to his disciples, I am the way, the truth and the life.

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No one comes to the father but by me. Every word that Jesus has said is true.

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He is the only way to have the forgiveness of sins. He is the only way to have right standing with God.

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He is the only way to escape from the judgment of God. He's the only way on that day when all of the nations will stand before the great white throne of judgment.

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The people will hear well done, good and faithful servant rather than depart from me, you worker of iniquity.

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I never knew you. The only way that a person receives the favor of God is by faith in Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life and truth.

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Notice is connected with those other two things, the way, the direction that we should go, the way that we should walk, how we should live in this world.

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It's all according to Christ, the truth. Everything that we can know is actual. Everything that we can know is fact.

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Whatever is real, whatever is purposeful, deliberate, intentional. We know those things in Christ.

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He is the life. How do I know that there is something for me after this body dies?

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And I don't just go into the grave or or my spirit doesn't just become ethereal and wander off into the void or I just disappear into blackness and there is no more me anymore.

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How do I know what is on the other side of this existence? Christ Jesus is the one who has told me because he came from that existence.

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He came down from heaven. He is revealed to us. The father. He has spoken to us about eternal things.

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So we know what the deliverance is from the grave. Mankind's greatest plight.

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It is. It is the greatest thing that we have to overcome death because every person gets it.

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Every single person will receive death. How do we overcome that? What is the answer to the grave?

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What's the solution to this? What's the purpose and meaning of life? And how do we know that it doesn't just end with a box in the ground?

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Christ, because Jesus came from heaven and he showed to us our evil, his righteousness, and only by faith in him can we be delivered from the rebellion that we've perpetuated against a holy

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God for which we deserve judgment and will stand before him as righteous on that day of deliverance and receive the eternal kingdom in the name of his son.

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The only way that we can get that is by faith in Jesus. He's the way.

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He's the truth. He's the life. No one gets to the father.

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No one receives the favoritism of God. No one can call themselves a friend of the most high except through Christ.

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He is our way to God. It is by faith in him. We've received adoption.

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We're no longer sons of Satan who will perish with him at the judgment.

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We are sons and daughters of God adopted through our elder brother, Jesus Christ, whose blood has covered us from all sins.

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We've been given a new DNA. The Holy Spirit who lives within us has reoriented our desires from the things of this world to the things of God.

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And therefore it is through Christ by faith in him who died for our sins, was buried in a tomb, rose again from the grave, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God where he is interceding for us on our behalf.

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Even now, it is by faith in him that we have eternal life.

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He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. So the truth is standing right there before Pilate, who is asking him, what is truth?

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The answer is right there, right before his very eyes. Notice that the Jews are trying to destroy the truth.

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The Gentiles, the pagans, the Romans are also going to try to destroy the truth.

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The Jews didn't want to listen to the truth. Pilate doesn't really seem all that interested either.

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He doesn't want to listen to the truth. The truth is right there. The world is trying to destroy it.

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That's the work of Satan. He hates the truth. Has from the very beginning.

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It's the very thing that he's attempting to lead humanity away from. The truth.

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He wants to. He is a liar. Jesus said this. He's been a liar from the very beginning.

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And all of the thoughts in his heart are murder. That's where his lies lead to.

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They lead to death. Whereas the truth that Jesus spoke leads to life. So Satan has always been trying to turn people in the direction of lies.

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From the very first words he spoke in the Garden of Eden to Eve. Genesis 3 .1.

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Did God really say that you must not eat of any of the trees in the garden?

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Eve said, no, we can eat of any of the trees. We just can't eat of this one. Nor can we touch it.

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Or we will die. And Satan replies, you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like him.

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Satan has been lying from the beginning. Has attempted to cause us to doubt the truth.

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Did God really say? Whatever comes from God is true. Whatever comes from Satan is lies.

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The truth saves. Lies destroy. Do you understand the power of words?

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And the meaning behind words? And yet what is our culture trying to do right now? Trying to change the definition of words.

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You just take one issue in particular, the change in the definition of marriage. Which happened, what was this, two or three years ago now?

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When was the, oh it was 2015. Was the Obergefell decision that legalized gay marriage in the

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United States. Now two men can marry one another and that will be called marriage.

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It's not marriage. It isn't marriage. At no time in human history has that ever been considered marriage.

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It is now. And just for me saying this on this podcast. If the right person, or I could say the wrong person.

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If the wrong person were to listen to it. And then turn me over to whoever I need to be turned over to.

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Everything that I've done on this program. For the last four or five years that I've been on.

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Is gone. Four years. 2015 was when I started. It's that same year. Anyway, all of it would be gone.

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Because the people who run these platforms. They can decide who it is that uses it. And hey we don't like the things that you have to say.

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About abortion which you said earlier in the program. And now you're talking about marriage. And you're telling us what marriage is supposed to be.

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The way that God has defined it according to his word. We don't like that. You're telling us we're wrong. And so we're going to kick you off.

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James White has said. Hey if you listen to the dividing line. You better start saving these programs. Because it's only a matter of time.

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Before this ends up in the hands of that particular person. Who's just bound and determined to remove.

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Any and everything that James White has ever done. And that's the direction we're going.

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These platforms are being controlled by people. Who hate truth. Who are defining words.

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Who are trying to reorient the truth. Or reorient facts. You know making up their own facts.

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To be able to go along with the sin. That they want to be able to do. Without any feeling of guilt.

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Or being told that they're doing anything wrong. This is the work of Satan. And as we have said for us in scripture.

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First John 3 .8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

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The reason the son of God appeared. Was to destroy the works of the devil.

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Was to speak truth to us. Because the truth saves.

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These words of Jesus in John 17 .3. In his high priestly prayer. He said this is eternal life.

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That they know you the only true God. And Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

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How do we have eternal life? We know the father through the son. And we know the son who reveals to us the father.

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Jesus said I glorified you on earth. Having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now father glorify me in your own presence.

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With the glory that I had with you. Before the world existed. Verse 17. Sanctify them in your truth.

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Your word is truth. The truth grows us in holiness.

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It grows us in righteousness. It makes us more and more into. The image of the truth.

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Who is Jesus Christ. So for Pilate to ask this question. What is truth he may as well have been asking.

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Who is Jesus? Because the answer to both of those questions is the same. What is truth?

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Jesus. Who is Jesus? He is the truth. The way the truth and the life.

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And if Jesus is truth. And what he testifies is the truth. Going back to what

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I stated earlier. Then whoever does not believe in him. Believes lies. That's why the statement that Jesus made there.

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Could have been quite offensive to Pilate. He doesn't appear to be put off in particular.

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He wanted to let Jesus go. He said I don't see anything wrong with the guy. He's just talking.

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He's not trying to start an uprising here. He's not amassing an army.

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He's even talking about this stuff about how his kingdom is of another world. So what's he going to do to me?

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I've got plenty of power over this guy. I can kill him or I can release him.

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He's got the power to do that. So he's not really all that threatened by Jesus. Doesn't even seem to be put off by the fact that Jesus just said.

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That he came to testify to the truth. So whatever Jesus says is true. Whatever anyone else says.

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That would be contrary to that would therefore be lying. And so Pilate's response here.

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If I continue to speculate on his mood or his emotion. Was probably what is truth?

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He was just saying you can't know what it is anyway. Therefore he wasn't impressed with Jesus. And nor was he terribly threatened by him at all.

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But if he had truly understood what it was that Jesus had said. Then he would have been terrified.

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Because if you do not follow Jesus. Well you will be struck down by the sword. That he is going to come swinging against the nations.

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As described in Revelation 19. When he comes in judgment. You can say that you believe in Jesus.

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And that's not necessarily an offensive statement. There are all kinds of people who say that they believe in Jesus. Though it may not actually be the

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Jesus of the Bible. But once you say I believe the Christ of the Bible. Who is going to come to judge all those who did not believe in him.

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Who said whoever is ashamed of me and my words. I will be ashamed of him. Before my father on the day of judgment.

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When he comes with the fiery angels of heaven. To strike down the nations. When you start saying things like that.

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Well that's when people get really upset. Not that you believed in Jesus. But that you believe that Jesus is judge.

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And he demonstrated that he is the one who is going to judge all.

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By rising from the dead. By overcoming the very plight that all men are trying to find an answer to.

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And that is death itself. Jesus overcame it. So he is the one who will deliver us from the grave.

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And there is no other. And if you don't believe in Jesus. The grave will ultimately be your end.

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And worse. Because you will be cast into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels. That's what makes.

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That's what makes faith in Jesus truly offensive. Is not just that he was a man who lived and died.

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And the Bible talked about him. But that he lived and died and rose again. Affirming that he is judge over all.

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All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Jesus said. Matthew 28 18. And he is the one who is going to judge all the nations.

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Whoever believes in him will live. Whoever does not believe will perish. That's why people get really upset with the truth.

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Let's conclude with prayer. Our Heavenly Father. We thank you for showing us the truth.

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We would not be able to understand what is true. If not for your

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Holy Spirit. That has been given to us. That has been poured into our hearts. That has changed us from being the naturally minded man.

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Into the spiritually minded man. For the things of God are spiritually discerned. And we cannot even know them if we do not have the

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Holy Spirit of God. According to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2 14. So we have come to understand these things.

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Only by your grace. Because you are kind to us.

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And demonstrated your love for us. And that while we were yet sinners. You sent your son to die for us.

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Romans 5 8. May we not be ashamed of the truth. May we hold fast to it and not let go.

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Grow us in our understanding of the truth. And may we be bold to share it with someone else.

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The truth of the gospel of Christ. For it is only by hearing the gospel and believing it. That a person is saved.