Sermon Tone Analysis

That you may Believe and Have Life – #47

John 18:28-40

 

Well we continue our walk with Christ as told to us by the Apostle John.

Jesus has gone through the garden

He has prayed for unity among his disciples

He has been betrayed by a follower

Abandoned by nearly all

Denied by one of his closest friends

And now he is on trial simply for being who he is

 

He first goes before the High Priest for trial, but the Jews know that they cannot put him to death, which is what they want, so they send him to the Roman Governor Pilate.

Let’s pick up right where we let off

 

READ 18:28-40

 

Napoleon’s Impossible Story

Napoleon often told this story: Once, while visiting a province he came on an old soldier with one arm severed, dressed in full uniform.

On his uniform a proud fighter displayed the coveted Legion of Honor.

“/Where did you lose your arm?”/ Napoleon asked.

/“At Austerlitz, sire,”/ came the soldier’s brisk reply.

/“And for that you received the Legion of Honor?”/

/“Yes, sire.

It is but a small token to pay for the decoration.”/

“/You must be,”/ the emperor said, /“the kind of man who regrets he did not lose both arms for his country.”/

/“What then would have been my reward?”/

asked the one-armed man.

/“Then,”/ Napoleon replied, /“I would have awarded you a double Legion of Honor/.”

With that the proud, old fighter drew his sword and immediately cut off his other arm.

This story was circulated for years.

One day someone asked, /“How?”/

Often we accept without question what people tell us, never stopping to think things through or even doubt the wisdom of the world.

—C.

E. Hembree[1]

 

Truth …

 

The whole of Human History since the Fall has been a struggle for whether or not God IS True Truth

 

Satan said /“didn’t God say”/ … and he called into question the veracity of God

 

Since then man has created their own gods denying the truth that there is only ONE GOD

 

The basis for the Big Bang Theory and Evolution is that there is no God and ~/ or his Word is not True

 

What is Truth?

That’s the question that determines our decisions and course of life

 

 

Jesus said that /if we continue in his Word then we will know the truth and the truth will make us free … /

 

But do we really want truth?

Josh Billings said /“as scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand”/

 

Georges Braque said /“truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented”/

 

I went on the web and typed in Pilates question, /“what is truth?”/

I searched the internet and read some things on truth that made my head spin.

You know I’m just a preacher you know.

I am just a regular guy.

But what passes for Truth today seems to go against the definition of the word.

Even Webster’s definition goes farther away from truth as the definitions grow

Webster’s says Truth is

/1) fidelity, constancy, sincerity in action/

/2) the state of being the case: FACT; the body of real things, events, facts: ACTUALITY; transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality; a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true /(no we’re getting in trouble)

/3) the property of being in accord with fact or reality; fidelity to an original or to a standard/

 

 

Reading about truth I found that there is correspondent truth and coherent truth … according to philosophers.

Coherent truth says that things are true if they line up to a series of propositions or beliefs.

For instance, most that believe in CERTAIN   ABOUT CREATION come from the proposition that there is NO GOD, so there must be another explanation for creation of this universe and the formation of all things and the source of life.

So, everything must conform to that belief system.

Everything that is TRUE in this system must be proved and understood.

In this system there can be multiple things that are true and things that are false.

Which leads to a series of conclusions that can be shifting like the sands in the desert with the winds of change

 

Correspondent Truth on the other hand states that there are FACTS, there are REALITIES, and TRUTH must come in line with those realities for it to be truth.

Correspondent truth also recognizes that there Transcendent Truth that cannot always be explained or even proven.

And within Correspondent Truth, there is a recognition of “Truth bearers” …

 

Well … I like that … because we are finding here today that we have a Truth bearer in Jesus Christ

 

What is Truth?

IN a WORD –

JESUS … he does not simply CONTAIN Truth … he IS Truth

He does not just EXPLAIN Truth … he IS Truth

 

If you have seen, experienced, or studied Jesus, you have seen, experienced and studied Truth

 

And So, there are some things we need to know about Jesus that will help us understand Truth

Jesus Christ

 

The sad thing is that Jesus Christ, Truth personified was in front of Pilate

Pilate was asking the right question, “/what is truth?”/

But he didn’t stay to get the answer.

Instead he went out to speak in front of the crowd … He could have known truth, but instead he gave in to the wishes of the World

“/Give us Barabbas/” … and so he gave up Truth … for the Crowd

Jesus said,

What is Jesus?

He is …

1. … is Other Worldly

 

  A.

My Kingdom is not of this World

   1.

/if it were my servants would fight ~/ prevent/

    2.

you see the world’s reality and God’s reality are not always the same thing

    3.

Pilate ~/ Caiaphas believed that they had captured Jesus, that they held his fate in their hands

    4.

But Jesus was showing them that their perspective was flawed they had a set of beliefs ~/ propositions but they weren’t based on all the facts so they were FALSE

    5.

If we don’t put Jesus into the mix we come to flawed conclusions.

6.

My Kingdom is not OF or based on this world, so our TRUTH cannot be solely on worldly understanding

    7.

It also means that what we think is important is not always important to God.

 

Colossians 3:2 (NIV) \\ 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

8.

If you are basing your truth, your reality, your decisions, solely on things of this world, you will come to a faulty finish, a faulty conclusion

    9.

I have talked to many people that say/, “look I’m going to take care of myself, and when this life is over, I go back to the dust and that’s the end of all things”/ –

   10.

But you may not be able to stick Heaven and Hell in a test tube or under a microscope but They are real, my friends … they are more real than we can even imagine

   11.

When you base your reality on a presupposition that this world is all that there is, you don’t know Truth and you build your life around faulty  reality, and thus all you do becomes a lie

 

Our TRUTH must be Other worldly to come to the right conclusions in life

 

Jesus is Other Worldly …

But also

He is …

 

2.

… The King of this world

 

  A.

I AM a King

    1.

I HAVE a Kingdom and I AM the King