Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser
The truth that you know sets you free. Knowing the truth is for our protection from bondage and fear because truth provides freedom. Jesus said in John 8:32, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Truth is the foundation of everything, and it’s so sad that most people don’t know the truth. So, what’s the truth that Jesus is talking about? The word of God is God’s revealed truth. Truth is God-given. It is His word to us. And because most people don’t use the word as their foundation of truth, truth has become a moving target. People are just constantly changing what they believe to be true. If the truth is only what you think it is, and what he/she thinks it is, and what they think it is, then what is the truth? That’s what Pilate asked Jesus, what is truth? If you ask the average person what truth is, they don’t even know where to stand on that subject. An average person wouldn’t know how to answer that question because they them self don’t know the truth.
The truth you know will set you free (John 8:32), and the truth you don’t know is destroying your life. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6). The root of all our problems is lack of knowledge of the truth. To know the truth is to listen to Jesus, and to listen to Jesus is to read the word of God. Jesus said, “In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37 NIV). He came to bear witness of the truth. Jesus even said this about Himself in John chapter 14, and in verse 6, He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. Truth is a basic foundational principle of life and that’s why Jesus said I am not only just the way and the life; I am the truth. All truth that relates to anything about life is wrapped up in the person of Jesus because he is the answer in some form or fashion. So, Jesus said he came into the world to testify to the truth, and then he said, I am the truth. Also, as he was praying to his father the night before his crucifixion, in John chapter 17, he said in verse 17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth”. The Bible also says about Jesus in John chapter 1, that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So, the word of God clearly declares that Jesus is the truth, he is the standard. The word of God is the revealed truth that he has given us.
The Bible is the ultimate expression of divine truth (John 17:17). If you don’t believe in the Bible, then what you’re saying is I don’t really want to know the truth. That’s deadly. Knowing the truth is part of our protection. If I said to you that a lion is not going to bother you, and it’s a strong and big lion, is it what you want me to tell you? That it’s okay to go and play with it? No, you don’t. Truth is a protection. It’s a form of protection and God has given us His word because he doesn’t want us to end up with wrong thinking, wrong actions, and wrong belief systems. So many people go astray in their lives because they don’t know the truth. The reason people are being led astray by the devil today is, Satan, the master of all lies, opposes the word of God. Life is literally a fight between truth and lies, between light and dark, between good and evil. And that’s the foundation of everything that’s going on in our individual lives as well as going on in our society, or going on in the entire world, and it’s so sad that most people don’t know the truth.
" To know the truth is to listen to Jesus, and to listen to Jesus is to read the word of God. "
It’s important to recognise who Jesus was speaking to. If you follow this back to John chapter 8, in verse 30, the Bible says, 30 “As He spoke these words, many believed in Him”. Verse 31 says, 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. What you just read was spoken to people who believed in the Lord, and then he comes down and he says in John 8:32, 32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). “As He spoke these words, many believed in Him”. This is really important. He wasn’t talking here to the people who didn’t believe in him. He was talking to those who believed in him, and in verse 31, it says, then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, if you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. This is so important. He said to people who believed in him.
These aren’t people who didn’t believe, but these are people who believed in him. ‘If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed’. The very use of the word ‘indeed’ means, in truth. In other words, there are people who claim to have a relationship with him, but it isn’t a reality, it isn’t true. The way you discern if people are true committed Christians is if they continue in the word until they are set free. The Bible says, if you continue in my word, then you’re my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. The word, ‘know’ here, is more than just intellectual knowledge. It’s talking about you experiencing the word of God and the truths in it setting you free. So, the way you can tell if people are true disciples is if they have continued in the word until that word has set them free, and we’ve got multitudes of people today who say they believe in the Lord, but they aren’t free. You must continue in God’s word. It can’t be just enough to believe in Jesus and say that’s it. You need to continue in the word until you are set free. If you’re born again, you’re of your father God, you have his Spirit and you have a new nature, but you still have your old thoughts.
It’s similar to when Lazarus was raised from the dead, he came out of the tomb bound hand and foot in grave clothes. He was alive, but he still had all his grave clothes on him, and Jesus told them, loose him, and let him go. Until Lazarus was loosed, he wasn’t free, even though he was raised from the dead. And so, many people who put their faith in the Lord are born again, but they still have all of these old trappings of their old life. They’ve still got the values and the attitudes of the old life on the inside of them, but we have to loose them, and let them go. How do you loose them? Christ said right here, that you have to continue in the word until you become his disciple indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. It’s truth that sets people free from all of these wrong attitudes. I pray that you will continue in the word today.
