“The Power of Truth”

Jesus declares, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free’ (John 8: 32). The truth has power. Ye wonder why people are wandering around the world so bound and incapable of functioning and having successful and fulfilling lives. These people are slaves of untruths or lies. They have made it a lifestyle of pretending and lying to themselves.

Yes, the people are lying about their real selves and their ideal selves. They are men-pleasers and the desire to please others, they are bound by society and Satan. People are not able to face the truth.  They are overwhelmed with doubt and have little to no determination to overcome the doubt and succeed.

You see when Jesus said that he was the way, the truth, and the life, he was giving us the solution to obtaining the real freedom that is the result of the power of the truth. For example, when the drug addict and the alcoholic, the sex addict, food addict, or gambler comes face to face with the truth of his addiction and codependence to maintain the addiction, he or she can begin the process of gaining real freedom.

If the lie is maintained that resulted in being enslaved to various vices, we can never be free until we accept that it is our responsibility. It is incumbent upon us to accept the truth. The weakness is in believing the lie that it is always someone else’s fault. The moment that one can accept the truth and recognize the problem and cure begins and ends with the individual, 90% of all addictions are recoverable.

Men have long thought that telling a lie instead of the truth is ok if the end justifies the means. If they were warned about the consequences of lying, they just laugh and say it was just a little white lie. Meaning it was not significant enough to be cause concern.

During the last few years in our discourse, people have begun to push forth lies and disinformation in all manner of conversations. The truth has been so twisted and misconstrued that people are starting to believe the lies. Our nation has become a nation of lies and deceit. America has taken on the behavior of the third world countries who disfranchise their voters and arrest or even kill those who oppose them. Now our political leaders are calling for violence. They exhort that you should fight to get your way. The Lord has instructed me to remind us of the necessity and the power of the truth.

Every word is either the truth or a lie. It is either God’s truth or the devil’s lies because he is the father of lies (John 8: 44). The truth is complete because it is derived from the one God and it depends on God (Hebrews 1: 3). Unlike a lie it never contradicts itself and it is the same everywhere. It is unbiased or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or fiction.  It is impartial, unbiased, unprejudiced, and non-partisan. The truth is not a crowd-pleaser it speaks to all people of all strips the same. It is not two-faced. It does not say one thing to one person and something different to another.

 God does not change and neither does his truth, which cannot be true today but not true tomorrow (Hebrews 13: 8). Truth is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your Word Oh Lord is Forever settled in heaven’ (Psalm 119: 89). His Word will stand forever (1 Peter 1: 25). The truth is completely reliable.

The truth has power, miraculous power. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 32). When we receive it by faith, the truth delivers our souls from the oppression of sin. Our Lord himself prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth’ (John 17: 17. The truth cleanses and purifies. It pierces the deepest level of the human heart, cuts to the bone, and works from the inside out (Hebrews 4: 12). The truth has life-changing power. It converts, sanctifies, and strengthens. It adapts, converts, and restores. The truth renews our minds, revives our hearts, and redirects our steps.

A lie may go a long way, but it will fail because it has no real foundation. However, the truth will endure because it is holy. You see the Truth conforms with fact and reality. According to the Holy Scripture, the truth is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory, and being of God. Even the word of God is truth. All truth is defined in terms of God, whose very nature is truth. God the Father is “the God of truth” (Psalm 31: 5). Jesus Christ is “full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14). He is “the truth” (John 14: 6). The Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of truth” (John 14: 17; 15: 26; 16: 13). Jesus prayed, “Your word is truth” (John 17: 17).

The truth is most of all, Holy because it is God’s truth. What God calls sin is sin, and salvation is what God says that it is. We know that what our God says is heaven and hell is what he says they are. What God determines as worthy of judgment is worthy of judgment. Truth has tremendous value. It is more valuable than gold, yes than much fine gold” (Psalm 19: 10). No one can be saved from their sins without the truth. No one can be sanctified or strengthened without the truth. Man does not determine truth, but it is determined by God (John Calvin, as quoted by Dr. Steven Lawson, in an article in “Tabletalk Magazine (Relativism, Christian Thought)”, an outreach of Ligonier, September 01, 2010).

Speaking the truth means being a man or woman of integrity. It means saying and doing what you say you will do and being what you say you are (Psalm 15: 2). We use our tongues to speak the truth because let me reiterate, truth has power. William George Jordan said in his writing, The Power of Truth: Individual Problems and Possibilities, 1902, truth is the “Rock Foundation of every great character. He further stated that it is loyal to the right thing as we see it. It is the courageous living of our lives in harmony with our ideals and it is always power.