The Truth

Morning Meditation 6/4/17

This morning my meditation is on the word truth. The passage that I am thinking on this morning is John 3:19-21.

Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6). He also said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Jesus is the truth about God and about man. All that Jesus ever uttered was truth. All that He ever did was truth. But the ultimate truth is seen on the cross. God cannot and will not tolerate sin. Because Jesus came as truth about sin, and the truth about God’s judgment on sin, He had to die. The wages of sin is death. Death is God’s judgment upon sin. Anything less than this would be a falsehood. For Jesus to be the truth about sin He had to die. But in dying He manifested the truth about grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace is what God is free to do for the sinner because of the cross. Grace is God’s unmerited favor. This grace comes to man because Jesus was the truth about sin on the cross and dealt with it righteously by paying the penalty in man’s place. Now God can be true to His holiness and manifest His grace upon the sinner as He believes in Christ. This is the truth and Jesus is the Truth about that truth.

John 3:19-21 says: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

In this text we have a contrast between light and darkness. I believe light is used synonymously with truth in this text and darkness is used synonymously with sin.

This text teaches the world is in hiding. They love darkness rather than light. They avoid the light or truth because their deeds are evil. Darkness is a cover for their deeds. In this they assume that God cannot see in the darkness. The Psalmist said: “If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.” They also hide it from their fellow man because they do not want to take a chance on someone telling them they are wrong.

Our text says, “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God.” When we “do truth” we do not need a cover.

The great Truth that Christ is and has revealed is that I can be honest about myself at the cross. He dealt in truth at the cross and so can I.

The question could be asked: “Won’t a constant view of ourselves as sinners give us a complex and hinder our service rather than help it?

I believe a morbid view of one’s self without repentance and forgiveness at the cross will. The truth of His forgiveness at the cross has the reverse effect. This is the truth that sets men free. The gospel is good news for bad people. We can be as Paul in Romans seven where he dealt in truth with himself. He admitted the bondage of his flesh to sin and said, as a saved man, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” He discovered that freedom comes through Christ: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord...”

What happens when we walk in the light (truth)? We deal with what the light reveals. We do not have to fear. We can face whatever the light reveals because there is forgiveness there (1John 1:7). I can admit there I am a failure and be forgiven. And God can make a success out of any failure. But it starts with confession and forgiveness. For those of us who feel ourselves to be failures, God gives us the Truth: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20).” It is Christ alive living His life through me and that is not a failure. It is no longer I. The “I” problem is cured through forgiveness and the Truth of Christ in me. And with every thing that the light reveals, there is forgiveness, and Jesus is the answer to the sin and failure.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts

In Christ

Earl White