Nothing but the truth

Well good evening everyone. Can I add my welcome, especially if you’ve come along with a friend, or are watching at the invitation of a friend this evening? It’s great to have you with us!

Those who know me well will tell you I’m into my films! One of my favourites comes from 1992 and is called A Few Good Men. Amongst many others it stars Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson and it is a powerful and compelling courtroom drama. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. Anyway there’s this fantastic climatic scene, which is pretty famous, when Tom Cruise’s character (the lawyer) is trying to get Jack Nicholson’s character (a US Marine colonel) to admit that the he ordered illegal action on a Marine to toughen him up, action that ultimately led to his death. The dialogue goes something like this:

Jack Nicholson’s character: “Do you want answers?”Tom Cruise: “I think I’m entitled to them.”Jack Nicholson sneers: “Do you want answers?”Tom Cruise screams: “I want the truth!”To which Jack Nicholson shouts back: “You can’t handle the truth!”

It’s an explosive scene and one that really brings out the fact that at the heart of any good courtroom drama is the desire to get to the truth. In a courtroom, any witness giving evidence commits to ‘tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’.

Now, don’t worry, it’s not my style to shout and scream like Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in that exchange, and this is no courtroom, but I do want us to pursue truth in this place tonight. It seems to me that for anyone trying out church, anyone wanting to know what it is that Christians believe, then a pursuit of the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is essential. But that’s actually quite difficult to do when you stop to think about it because in our culture today, the idea of truth is being challenged like never before. We only need to think back a couple of months to Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan Markle in which Winfrey asks Meghan “How do you feel about the palace hearing you speak your truth today?” That’s an incredible phrase isn’t it? ‘Your truth!’ Individual preference seems to be king. There’s his truth, her truth, your truth and my truth, sometimes it feels like there’s everything but the truth. Perhaps even more startling, we’re told by modern philosophers and commentators that we’re living in a post-truth world. Witness Kellyanne Conway, who while one of President Trump’s senior aides in 2017, famously used the phrase ‘alternative facts’ to defend a nonsensical claim by one of her colleagues. And then, as well as ‘alternative facts’ and ‘subjective truth’ we can add the fake news and division that overwhelms us on everything from Covid to Brexit, to Global Warming and international politics. Who do we believe? Who can we trust?

So much of life, just like in a good movie, is about a search for truth. Not just about who knew what and when, not just how did that happen and why, but it’s also about a search for a deeper kind of truth. Each one of us will at some point find ourselves asking; who am I? Why am I here? Where do I fit in? Do I even matter? Does anyone care? What does it all mean? Maybe you’re watching, or you’re here tonight, and you’ve found yourselves asking such questions recently. If so, then can I say I’m glad you’re here. I’ve got good news for you tonight because at the heart of what Christians believe, at the heart of why Christians gather together as churches, is a unique man who can answer those questions. A man who not only claimed to tell the truth but a man who claimed to be the truth. We heard something he said being read earlier:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

Those words are the words of Jesus, and what I hope to do for the next few minutes is to briefly introduce you to him and say a little bit about what it means to believe in him.

No serious historian doubts that Jesus existed. His life is not only recorded by four separate witnesses in the Bible, but contemporary Jewish and Roman historians refer to him too. This man actually existed, he lived, worked, preached and at the age of 33 was brutally executed on a Roman cross.
His dead body was taken down and laid in a tomb. Three days later that tomb was empty. Everything that Christians believe hinges on why that tomb was empty. His followers claimed he had risen from the dead. Not just one or two of them, not just his inner circle, but over 500 people claimed to have seen him alive. During his life, he made some astonishing claims, which if true, are wonderful. He claimed; to be able to forgive anyone anything, authority over nature, sickness and even death itself (there are stories recorded in Scripture of him calming storms, healing people and even bringing the dead back to life!) Most astoundingly though, through what he did and what he said, he claimed to not simply be just a man, but equal with God himself.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. [Jesus said].

Let’s take a look in a bit more detail at the bit of the Bible we heard read earlier. It was from one of those four eyewitnesses, a chap called John. We pick up the story as Jesus is talking with his disciples. After three years of following Jesus, listening to his teaching, seeing him do unbelievable things they’ve just heard him say that one of them will betray him, one will deny him and that actually he’s going to have to leave them on their own for a bit. You’d forgive them for being a bit upset! And Jesus seeks to reassure them:

Let not your hearts be troubled.

His words are as valid now as they were then. In a world where the search for truth disorientates and upsets us, Jesus still says Don’t let your hearts be troubled! Why? Why does he say this? How can he say this? Keep listening in (John 14.1-3):

Believe in God; believe also in me. [In other words, “God and me, we’re one! If you believe in me, you believe in God.” And vice versa!] In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

In other words, if you believe in me, then you have nothing to fear because I am going to do something that will make it possible for you to live with me forever. Here are two important and life-changing truths that flow from Jesus’ words:

Truth #1: Your true home is in heaven with God, and he longs for you to be with him!

I don’t know what kind of image and feelings come to mind when you hear the word home? Some of us will look on that word with great affection, some with sadness and pain. Some of us will think of a place, others perhaps people. I grew up in North London, my parents lived there for over 25 years. I love going back, in some senses I feel like I’m going home. But that’s more tied up these days with nostalgia than reality because my parents now live at the other end of the country, in the north of Scotland no less! And when I go and visit them, I’m going home because that is where they are. You see home is more than just a place we live. It’s ultimately connected to relationship. And the true home for all of us is with God in heaven. And Jesus is using picture language here of a big home with lots of space. It’s a metaphor for heaven. Lots of room for everyone, but he’s got some preparation to do, so that what he longs for (us being with him) is possible.

What is he talking about?! If you’re feeling confused, don’t worry about it. You’re in good company. The original disciples were confused too. Jesus said “…you know the way to where I am going” and one of his followers, Thomas, replies “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” You’ve gottta love Thomas haven’t you? He is the sort of chap who epitomises the ‘there’s no such thing as a stupid question’ principle. You know in the learning environment we’re constantly reminded of that aren’t we. ‘There’s no such thing as a stupid question’ and so we ask the obvious and we’re made to feel this big. And so next time we bluff, and we nod our head in the right place, and we pretend we understand, none of that with Thomas. He’s straight to the point: “Jesus, what are you talking about?!” And Jesus says to him:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

It is one of the most quoted passages of the Bible and it is a game changer! It’s our second important, life-changing truth:

Truth #2: Believing in Jesus is the only way to get to your true home!

You see conventional wisdom says that when you ask for directions, you listen to the advice and then try and follow the instructions. Occasionally you may even try to read a map. Suppose I invited you to my home for tea and you asked for directions. And I said to you, “no problem. Just take the road away from church, first left, first right, turn left again then right. Go straight on and turn left at the T-junction, turn right at the lights. Get in the left-hand lane, straight over the roundabout”. Chances are I’ve lost you already and we’re not even out of Jesmond yet!

Truth #2: Believing in Jesus is the only way to get to your true home!

You see conventional wisdom says that when you ask for directions, you listen to the advice and then try and follow the instructions. Occasionally you may even try to read a map. Suppose I invited you to my home for tea and you asked for directions. And I said to you, “no problem. Just take the road away from church, first left, first right, turn left again then right. Go straight on and turn left at the T-junction, turn right at the lights. Get in the left-hand lane, straight over the roundabout”. Chances are I’ve lost you already and we’re not even out of Jesmond yet!

But suppose I say to you, “Don’t worry I’ll get in the car with you and we’ll be together and I’ll take you there myself. Just follow me”. In that case I become the way for you. And it’s a bit like that with Jesus. He doesn’t point the way out in the distance. He doesn’t say “There is the way, that’s the truth and this is the life!” No! Jesus claims to be those things himself. It’s a game changer! He takes us by the hand and he leads us. And when it comes down to it, one of the amazing things about truth is that it is not idea or concept, but rather truth is a person! Truth is a person who loves you so much he would die so that you could get to your true home. That’s the preparation Jesus is talking about in this passage. Somehow his death on a cross and his resurrection prepare the way for you to go home. Sounds weird, doesn’t it?

Why does Jesus have to die?

To fully understand this we have to backtrack a little and go back to the beginning, and in the beginning God tells us that he made the world good.
Try not to get hung up on the fact of when the world was made and how. The Bible isn’t interested in answering those questions. It’s not into the ‘when’ and ‘how’ of creation but it’s very much is into the ‘why’ and ‘who’! Who? God! Why? Love! God made the world out of his love. So, God made the world good, he created us to be in relationship with him and to care for the world he made. Problem is, we thought we could do better if we were in charge and so we rebelled and we disobeyed him. That happened once, long ago in the garden of Eden, but sadly it also happens every day in our lives, when we lie and cheat and steal and insist on our way. When we put others down. When we ignore God. It’s what the Bible calls sin, and the wages for sin (the penalty for sin) is death. Eternal separation from God.

But here’s the good news folks. Jesus, the one man in all of human history never to sin (perfect), prepares a place for us by dying in our place. On that cross he took that punishment that each and every one of us deserve. And, here’s the really incredible bit. The tomb was empty. Jesus came back to life after three days. He defeated death so that all who, by faith, believe his death counts as their death may follow the way, the truth and have life, eternally. Now that may sound too good to be true to you and you may have more questions. Maybe you think it’s all a little far-fetched, but you’d like to explore it some more. If so, can I tell you about our ‘Why Jesus?’ website? This would be a perfect thing to check out later on. Just go to www.whyjesus.org and there are videos, free books and an invitation to a special course we run called Christianity Explored.

I promised you nothing but the truth folks. And you may have come along here thinking that church is full of people who think they’re better than everyone else. Maybe you think church is just full of traditional, religious types who like candles and singing songs no one can understand!The truth is, real churches are full of people who know two things: (1) Their true home is in heaven with God, and (2)Their only way to get home is with Jesus.This is why we gather; we want to remind each other and encourage each other with these truths, and we want to praise God for them. Because to a world that is lost Jesus says, “I am the way”. To a world that is drowning in subjective, post-truth, alternative facts and all the division that goes with it Jesus says, “I am the truth”. And to a world in which death is inescapable Jesus says, “I am the life”. This is nothing but the truth people! This is nothing but the truth.

It might be that you are here tonight, and you want to commit right now to following Jesus. That might not be the case for you and that’s fine. But if it is, I’m going to pray a prayer giving you the opportunity to ask God for his forgiveness. Let me show you what I’m going to pray, in case you want to say this prayer in the quiet of your own heart:

Heavenly Father, Thank you for your Son Jesus. I want to follow him as the way, the truth and the life. I realise my sins have separated me from you. Please forgive me. Please help me to believe the truth. By the power of your Holy Spirit, please come into my life and help me live for you however tough it gets. Thank you Lord, Amen.

If you have prayed that prayer, please do let me know as you leave, I’d love to be praying for you by name this week. If you’re watching the service online then why not drop me an email or visit the Why Jesus website to find out more.

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