“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
John 17:17
Christianity is a faith that is built upon Truth. By that I mean it concerns true things that really happened in time and space. It is not simply a matter of feelings! What you feel about something does not determine whether or not it is true. It is true or it is false regardless of how you feel about it. And Christianity is very much concerned about telling the Truth. The things recorded in the Gospel either happened or they didn’t. Christ will either keep His promises or He won’t. Truth really matters. So for anyone to become a Christian there are certain truths we must know and understand and believe! Paul demonstrated this in 1 Cor 15:3-6 when He said, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared … to more than five hundred brothers at one time.” The Christian faith hangs on knowing the truth about things that really happened so that in light of that truth we believe Christ and His promises.
That’s one reason the disciples had to be men of truth who were thoroughly convinced about the truth of Christ. They needed to know Him for Who He truly is, and understand all that He has done and said. They had to be men who not only knew these things to be true, but also men who loved these things and had become thoroughly convinced of them for themselves. That’s the only way they would be able to pass these same truths on to us so we could come to know them and love them and be convinced of them for ourselves.
That’s the point of this morning’s passage. John 16:12-15 shows us why we can be certain that the Gospel is indeed Truth we can rely on to bring us a true knowledge and experience of God. How can we know? Because the Spirit of Truth has come to lead us into a certain knowledge of the truths that save.
May the Spirit of Truth guide you deeper into the love of Christ.
Pastor Scott