Truth, What Is It?

PILATE’S question, “What is truth?” is, I believe, the great question of the moment. It is of vast importance to have the truth, and it is a profound mistake not to have it, if it is to be had. Many a man has it not. The Christian has it. The believer in Christ has it. I remember many years ago one of the Professors of Edinburgh University, with whom I was very intimate, and at whose house I was one evening, after a long conversation, turned, and said to me, “Look here, doctor, I am earnestly seeking after the truth.” “I have got it, sir,” I replied. “What do you mean?” “I mean this, I have Christ, and He is the truth.”
Christ is the truth, and I want to draw your earnest attention to these precious words of the Saviour which I have read―uttered by Him when surrounded by everything that the enmity of man could bring against Him, when betrayed, denied, blindfolded, and passed on from one careless high priest to another, and then trundled away to the judgment-seat of a godless man, as Pilate undoubtedly was. Yet in the face of all this, what was His attitude? Look at Christ Look how quiet, how calm, albeit how sad. Then it was He said: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” Pilate carelessly says, “What is truth?” and then turns his back on Truth personified. Ah! my friends, there is many a man doing that today. Pilate is not the only man who has turned his back on the Truth.
What I greatly desire is that the truth, God’s truth, may simply pass before us, and I shall make no apology for Scripture. I believe it to be the Word of God. I believe it to be a revelation from God, of His mind, of His thoughts, of His purposes, and of His counsels; that we have in the Scriptures the truth written, and that in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ we have truth incarnate. The result is, that the man who receives the truth of Scripture, in the power of the Holy Ghost, will invariably be brought into contact with Christ, who is the Truth.
First then, you may ask me, “What is truth?” Truth is the exact, the perfect, the absolute expression and delineation of that which is. It is the identity of the statement and the fact stated. I could not say, that God is the Truth. God is, and He is true. God is true; but of the Lord Jesus Christ it is said, that “Grace and truth came by him” (John 1:1717For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)). Nay, more, He Himself has said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)). He is the Truth about everything; the truth about God; the truth about man; the truth about the heart of God, the nature of God, and the claims of God; and the truth, moreover, about man in every possible relation of his being. He was no mere man, ‘for He was verily God; nevertheless He was a real, true, perfect man. Get hold of that, I implore you. That Jesus, whom we have read about, was a real, true, perfect man, as much a man as I am, sin alone excepted. As man He was in this scene to declare God, and to divinely meet man. “To this end,” He says, “was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” None could reveal God, none could unveil the love of God, or declare the heart of God, other than He who came from God. There was none who knew the claims of God, and could meet those claims, except the One who came from God. He must come from God, if He is to bring God to me, and He must be a man, a veritable man, to bring me to God; because I am a sinful man, a sinner. So are you. Sin carries its consequences, and merits judgment, and the truth as to this alone is seen fully in Christ.
In the Lord Jesus Christ the absolute truth about everything is beautifully blended. The perfect and whole truth about everything is seen in every part, and not one side of the truth more than another. We get the truth that “God is love,” for instance, and see the reality of the truth of God’s love in Christ’s self-sacrifice, for He gave Himself that He might unveil the heart of God to us, and bring us to God by His death.
In the scene before us Pilate is in the presence of Jesus, the Truth, yet, when He speaks, he turns his back upon Him. I trust you will not imitate him; because we live in a day when men are slighting Christ. I find many young men who are Pilate’s followers; in fact I speak the truth when I say that perhaps nine young men out of ten whom I meet are not believers, but, alas are serious doubters. I want to know if they are happier, if they are better, or if they are holier men; I have never found it to be so yet. I can recollect, when I was an unconverted young man, and when the truth was unknown to me. I know, too, what I was after I was converted. I know what a wonderful change came over me when I came to know the Truth, and was brought into contact with the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence I want you to get into contact with Christ.
Now observe this, if Jesus be not what He said He was, if He be not what He declared Himself in the Gospels to be, you must repel Him, and everything about Him altogether. Jesus said that He was the Son of God. Was He the Son of God? He says, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” Only the Son could make the Father known. Surely, as He Himself says, “No man path ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven” (John 3:1313And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:13)). This claim must either be accepted, or rejected. I must either own what He says, I must acknowledge the truth that He came from heaven, or refuse absolutely to believe it, and proclaim Christ to be not an impostor, but One who knowingly spoke what was not true. If He said a single word which was not true, then He cannot be the Truth. I do not mince matters, for I must either own Him to be what He said He was, or else deny Him all right to the allegiance of my heart and conscience.
Although I thus speak, I delight to acknowledge, and heartily believe that He is what He said He was; and I have proved Him to be what He said He was—a Saviour. If you have never known Him as your Saviour, let me now urge you to put Him to the test. You accept the truth of that which He says concerning Himself, and then you will find out that you need a Saviour, and that He is that Saviour, and He alone. I know well that men would like to set aside His claim on the ground that they do not need saving. But you have to meet God, and where are you going to spend eternity? How are you going to meet God? You have to go into eternity! Where will you spend it? Serious questions these! Are you now fitted to meet God? Is your conscience purged? Are your sins purged away? Are you fitted to paw into the presence of a God of infinite holiness? I tell you frankly you are not, unless you have had to do with Christ. If you have had nothing to do with Him, you are not ready. “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth,” said the Lord Jesus, and then He adds immediately, “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
I come therefore to the question, an important one for you and myself―Have I got the truth? If I am not of the truth, I have not heard His voice. The man who has not heard the voice of the Son of God does not possess the truth. You can hear other voices; for there are plenty of voices nowadays. The voice of the truth is that of Him, who could say, “I am the truth,” and who could say to the man, who told Him, he had power to put Him to death, “Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above; therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” He it is who says, “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” Then, have you heard His voice?
Well, you say, I do not know that He exists. You would soon know that He exists if you heard His voice. Oh, but, you say, I was never brought into contact with Him. More the pity; because He says, “Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.” The confession of a man, that he has not heard the voice of Jesus, is a tacit confession that he has not got the truth. Now, I say again, above all things get the truth. I do not care what things I lose, or what I have not got, if I have got the truth. Give me the truth―the truth about everything, about God, about myself, about righteousness, ‘about the claims, and the heart of God.
What is the truth about God? “God is love!” How do you know that? you ask. He gave His Son. “God is light!” What is the meaning of that? Light reveals all that is unlike, or opposed to itself; it touches the root of things, because light makes manifest. “God is love.” The birth of Jesus, and the cross―the death of Jesus, prove the love of God. They are the demonstrations of that wonderful truth. “God is light.” Will He pass over sin? Impossible! The Word of God is simple and plain upon this point. “All have sinned;” furthermore it says, “The wages of sin is death.” People try to explain death away, but you cannot. You may gild your hearses, drape your coffins with costliest flowers, decorate your graveyards, and put up magnificent monuments on your tombs, but you cannot get rid of death; and death, we are told, entered into the world by sin (Rom. 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)) ―the sin of the first man―Adam.
But death is not the end of man. If death were the end of man, then there would be no resurrection; but I have learned the truth of the resurrection, through Christ. The man Jesus Christ, for God’s glory, and the blessing of sinners, reached death and the grave as the end of a pathway of perfect obedience and dependence. God could not do otherwise than raise, and glorify Him, and He has done it. The first man reached the grave as the fruit, and penalty of sin, and if you go into death, you will lie there, just because you are a sinner. But I know a Man, who went into death, and came out of it.
I hear His voice tonight, saying, “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” I have also heard Him say, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead” [in their sins of course] “shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live” (John 5:2525Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25)). Oh! what a wonderful thing this is, a man springs into life, into eternal life, by hearing the voice of the Son of God!
The first great truths I learn then, are these, that, “God is love,” and “God is light.” All is made manifest in Jesus. The end Christ had in view is here stated. He comes down into the scene, and finds man a sinner in his sins, under the sentence of death, and passing on to it, and He passes into death for him, that he might be saved.
Supposing death were to overtake you, what then? You may not be terribly afraid at the thought of death, but what comes after death? No man can tell that, you say. I beg your pardon, I know what comes after death. I know One who has been into death, and has come out of it. The Christian―if he die― departs to be with Christ, who has been into death, and is now at the right hand of God, a living; mighty Saviour, who leads the one that trusts in Him, into eternal life, and sets him down in the glory, where He now is. Every one who is of the truth hears His voice. That is it. It is very simple. Until I hear His voice, it is quite clear, I have not got the truth.
Now let us inquire, What is the truth about man? Man is a sinner. “The Son of Man is come to seek, and to save, that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). Is it true that man is lost? It must be true, or Christ has told a lie. He says, “The Son of Man is come to seek, and to save, that which was lost.” You might turn to me, and say, But who are lost? All, without exception. Have you heard His voice? Have I heard His voice? If not, I am yet lost; you are yet lost. You may say, But surely you do not put us all down as lost? The Son of God says it, and He makes no mistakes.
Not long ago, a friend of mine was preaching in this town to a very large audience. At the close of the meeting, I came in contact with an excessively intelligent, and withal earnest young fellow, one of your own set. I got into conversation with him, and asked him if he were saved. He said, “How can I know?” “Well,” I replied, “I know that I am saved, thank God. Don’t you know it?” “No,” he replied, “but I am doing my best to live a proper, moral, straight, and square life.” “Quite right,” I said, “that is exactly what you should do.” “Won’t that have some weight with God?” he asked. “Won’t that curry favor with God?” “Well,” I said, “stop a moment. Will your life compare with the life of Jesus?” He thought a minute, and then said, “What do you mean?” “I mean this―Do you think your life will compare with the life of Jesus?” After thinking a little, he replied: “I could not say that. I am doing my best to live a moral, proper, and square life, but I cannot say that it could compare with that of Jesus.” “Well then,” I said, “you won’t do for God; because only one man will suit Him, and that is Jesus; He is the Truth. He is what a man should be. A man should be holy, spotless, sinless, undefiled, absolutely devoted and true to God. That is what Jesus was.” He thought a moment, and then turning round sharply to me, said, “If what you say is true, every man is lost.” “Yes,” I said, “you have hit the nail on the head this time. That is exactly what Scripture says. Every man is lost, and ‘the Son of Man is come to seek, and to save, that which was lost.’”
So you see, my friends, Christ brings out the truth as to our state. We are sinners; and, if sinners, we are under sentence of death, and lost. If you will turn to another portion of Scripture, where, in parabolic guise, the Lord brings out the truth, whether it be the shepherd who sought his sheep, the woman who lost her money, or the father receiving his son, you will find that the one word He uses is “Lost.” The sheep was lost, the silver was lost, the prodigal was lost. It is man’s state before God, and, what I urge upon you is, that Christ comes to you, and bears witness to the truth of the condition of man―hence your condition. You are a lost sinner, and you will never be saved until you hear His voice, who is the Truth. Have you heard it?
W. T. P. W.