NOTE: There will only be 2 lessons in this series due to the Deeper Church initiative that is scheduled to begin October 29th with the first Sermon on the Deeper initiative and the class lessons will follow starting November 5th.
Confident in the Face of Hard Questions
1 Does It Really Matter Which “Truth” I Believe? • John 3:19-21; 8:31-36
2 Are Miracles Relevant? • John 10:22-26; 14:8-14
3 Why Do We Suffer? • Job 30:26-31; 42:1-6
4 Is Jesus the Only Way to God? • 1 John 5:1-13
5 Won’t All People Ultimately Go to Heaven? • Matthew 7:13-23
6 Is Hell Real? • 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12
INTRODUCTION
Most Christians have a sense of what they believe. All that’s necessary is to read the Bible and learn what it says. However, we live in a day that is increasingly post-Christian. Christians find themselves in a position of becoming a smaller portion of the population.
For much of our history, America has been a place where biblical principles were acknowledged. Culture has been steadily changing, and biblical teaching or Judeo-Christian ethics are no longer assumed or embraced. As Christians, we find ourselves in a position where simply knowing what we believe is not sufficient. We must now also know why we believe it and why what we believe is the truth.
This study looks at six prominent questions some people in secular society use to attack the Christian faith. Additionally, this study gives believers a way of understanding why biblical beliefs are true, along with an apologetic for standing strong against the untruths hurled against them.
What the Bible teaches is true, and every Christian should put themselves in a position to express that truth in their words and through their daily lives.
Does It Really Matter Which “Truth” I Believe?
THE POINT
Knowing the truth of Christ is the only way we can experience freedom.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
Question 1:
What are some things you’ve been surprised to find out were true?
Postmodernism says we can each make up our own version of what is true. This postmodern way of thinking dominates many institutions of modern society. I once had an exchange on social media with a self-professed post-modernist who believed everyone gets to make up their own truth. At the very beginning of our online conversation, this postmodernist immediately began to attack my beliefs. In his rant about Christian beliefs, he wrote:
- “You people are ridiculous. God is a primitive bronze-age belief. He doesn’t cause thunder and he didn’t ‘create’ the universe. BTW, I’m hedonist because humans are real, and we create truth and morality, not god. The Bible is complete garbage; it’s a horribly written narrative with equally disastrous morality thrown into it. That’s why I have no problem tossing one to the fire where it belongs.”
We live in a day when people believe they are allowed to make up their own truth. However, in the Gospel of John we see that truth is not a matter of human imagination; truth is based on a revelation from an objectively real God who has truly spoken to us in history.
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
John 3:19-21
19 “This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
Postmodernism grows out of a worldview called Naturalism, which assumes that the natural universe, operating by natural laws, is all that exists. Thus, postmodernists believe there is no God, and therefore, there is no possible source for objective moral beliefs. And since they don’t recognize God, they have no choice but to make up morality using their own personal preferences. There’s nothing factual to back up their assumptions about morality, but they honestly believe their point of view represents the truth.
In John 3, we’re introduced to a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who came to Jesus one night in order to have a discussion with Him. Nicodemus seemed to be very sincere about his faith, but he was quite confused because Jesus’s ministry and teachings seemed to contradict the mainstream Jewish theology of that day.
Jesus shared with Nicodemus the spiritual truths about how the Messiah would usher in eternal life for those who would believe in Him. To illustrate His point, Jesus shared this truth using the story of Moses lifting the bronze serpent in the wilderness to save the dying Israelites (John 3:14-18; Num. 21:4-6).
Even with this explanation, though, Nicodemus wasn’t grasping Jesus’s meaning. He was trying to interpret Jesus’s teaching based on an understanding of truth that was different from what Jesus was actually sharing. Nicodemus believed that salvation could be attained by keeping the Jewish law, but Jesus emphasized belief in the Messiah.
Since Nicodemus was struggling to understand, Jesus explained further and told Nicodemus that, “The light has come into the world.” The meaning of this is obvious to most Christians because we have the full picture of Christ’s redemptive work in Scripture. We understand that this “light” is a reference to Jesus, but Nicodemus didn’t understand the narrative. When a person’s understanding of truth is based on a different worldview, as it was in Nicodemus’s case, it just doesn’t make sense.
Jesus’s teaching wouldn’t make sense to one who wasn’t open to the light God had revealed. Most people prefer to continue in the “darkness” of their traditional beliefs. Jesus told Nicodemus why people are not open to the light. The reason: By opening themselves up to the light, the sin in their lives is exposed.
When people look to legalistically follow religious laws for their salvation, as the Jewish people did, there’s nothing personal involved. They don’t have to look at the ugliness of their inner motives; they only have to consider their outward deeds. But when people allow the true light of God to shine on their lives, not only are their wrong deeds exposed, but the ugly motives of their hearts are exposed as well.
In verse 21, Jesus indicated there are some who are truly sincere regarding their faith—those who are open to God’s light shining into their lives and exposing the nastiness that needs to be cleaned out. These individuals have come to understand that God demands righteousness and judges sin. They grasp that forgiveness can’t be earned by doing good deeds, but forgiveness is instead a gift of God’s grace.
The truth is we can’t understand truth—God’s truth—as long as we’re in the dark. But when we choose to step into the light of Jesus, His light reveals our sin and opens our eyes to the life we can have in Christ. When we embrace the light of Christ, we live! Furthermore, the lives we live point to the work of God. As verse 21 points out, “his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.” The truth of Christ we embrace inwardly is seen outwardly in the way we live.
Question 2:
What are some ways people love the darkness rather than the light?
John 8:31-32
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
So many people consider truth to be based on a relativistic foundation. That is, truth is not absolute but is changeable based on one’s circumstances. Unfortunately, this faulty mindset is seeking to creep into the church. The need for Christians to firmly understand Scripture as an objectively real revelation from an objectively real God is more critical than ever. Many people, even in the church, struggle to acknowledge the Bible’s teachings as being a word from God that can’t be legitimately compromised.
In Jesus’s day, the problem believers faced was slightly different from modern society’s view that morality is changeable based on current circumstances. They did have to deal with a problem that created the same result though. The Jews in that day believed that the Bible was an objectively real revelation from an objectively real God. However, they interpreted it wrongly. So just as modern relativists misinterpret Scripture because of their wrong beliefs, the Pharisees misinterpreted Scripture because of theirs. And both misinterpretations lead to an attack on Jesus and His followers.
John 8 began with the account of a group of Pharisees bringing to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. The Pharisees at this point were committed to destroying Jesus because they believed He was teaching heresy. They were simply using this woman to trap Him.
Jesus outsmarted them, though, and the attackers left. Then Jesus addressed the crowd and told them, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). This bold statement gave the Pharisees another opportunity to challenge Him, and there ensued another argument. This one centered around the accusation that what Jesus was teaching, particularly about Himself, wasn’t true. But in rebutting them, Jesus’s defense was so compelling that, among those who heard Jesus’s words, “many believed in him” (v. 30).
Jesus took the opportunity to teach these new converts a profound truth about Himself. What Jesus was proclaiming was that He is the Messiah who had been prophesied in Scripture, and the things He was teaching represented the truth. He wanted these new believers to know they could trust what He was saying, and that if they followed Him, they would know a kind of freedom that wasn’t possible any other way.
By using the word “truth,” Jesus expressed an idea that’s much more profound than most people grasp. To many, truth is a rather abstract concept, particularly in our modern society that believes everyone is able to have “their own truth.” But a biblical understanding of truth isn’t relative at all. In fact, we can go so far as to affirm that truth equals reality.
The Pharisees’ belief about the reality of the coming Messiah was that he would be a military/political leader who would free Israel from the domination of its enemies. They believed he would reestablish the nation as a free and independent kingdom which he would rule. Thus, their entire view of reality (truth), including their legalistic religious tradition, was based on what happened in the material world.
Jesus was proposing an entirely different structure for reality. His teaching expressed a view that the purpose of God wasn’t to set up an earthly kingdom with the Messiah as its king, but to provide a way for righteousness to reign in the hearts of individuals so they could experience an eternal, personal relationship with Him. It’s only within that personal relationship framework that people are able to know truth—real, actual truth—and experience the freedom that occurs within that relationship.
Question 3:
When have you seen truth bring freedom in someone’s life?
John 8:33-36
33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.”
Engage
Freedom!
Think about the freedom you have found in following Christ. Fill in the sentences below. Then answer the question.
Because I know the truth, I have freedom from. _______________
Because I know the truth, I have freedom to. _________________
Who do you know that needs to hear about the freedom you have found in Christ?
Up until this point, Jesus had been getting the best of the Pharisees at every turn, which made them even more desperate to knock down His teaching. In John 8:32, when Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” the Pharisees saw one more opportunity to attack. They twisted Jesus’s words to make them mean something entirely different from what He actually meant. They asserted that, as Abraham’s descendants, they were already free because they had never been slaves to anyone.
On the surface, the Jews’ assertion is blatantly false. The Jewish people had a long history of being dominated, even enslaved. They had been slaves to the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians. Even in their own time, Rome dominated the Jews. Thus, their meaning probably had more of a spiritual nuance; they viewed themselves as having an inner-freedom simply because they were related to Abraham.
Although they based their argument on a spiritual interpretation of freedom, they still didn’t grasp the significance of Jesus’s words. The beliefs of the Pharisees had them focusing entirely on their physical circumstances. They were looking for an earthly messiah to free them. Jesus’s messiahship, however, had a spiritual purpose: to bring people into a personal relationship with God. By believing in Him, they would experience spiritual freedom from sin and freedom to live with God.
Question 4:
What does freedom in Christ look like?
In Romans 6:16-23, the apostle Paul talked extensively about slavery to sin. He made the point that every person is a slave, but individuals get to choose who will be their master: sin or God. In verse 23, Paul made the same point Jesus was making in today’s passage when he said, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Indeed, the clear teaching of Scripture is that God’s reason for creating mankind was to enjoy a personal relationship with human beings. But with the Fall of Adam and Eve, sin became a barrier that prevented that relationship from being engaged. God wasn’t, however, about to let that thwart His purpose, so He created a solution to the sin problem. But the solution required individuals to recognize the truth and willingly receive it into their lives. Personally receiving this truth, then, would set them free spiritually and allow them to enjoy the benefits of a personal relationship with God.
The way God created His solution to the sin problem was for Christ to come to earth, live a sinless life, die on the cross as our sacrifice, then be raised from the dead as a demonstration that He was, indeed, God and had the power to forgive man’s sin. That’s reality. Jesus affirmed this reality in John 14:6 when He said to Thomas, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Question 5:
What are some ways our group helps one another live free in Christ?
LIVE IT OUT
Knowing the truth of Christ is the only way we can experience freedom. Choose one of the following applications.
- Identify. Acknowledge any doubts you may have about the truth of the gospel of Christ. A lot of people feel uncertain about the objective truth of the gospel, and modern society with its relativistic moral beliefs can amplify those doubts. Admit where your struggles lie.
- Seek. The Christian faith is the truth; thus, we need to determine to resolve our personal doubts. Find people or resources that can help you think through those doubts and don’t stop until you have found the answers. They do exist.
- Help. Help someone with his or her doubts. Talk to your friends about the doubts they may have concerning the truth of the gospel of Christ and help them to get those doubts resolved.
What do a witness at a trial and an elected official have in common?
Answer
Each is obligated to take an oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
We must be able to
communicate the “why” of our beliefs and how real, lasting truth can only be
found in Jesus.
In today’s culture,
people want us to assume that truth is what the individual makes it to be. If
that is true, then the
concept of truth becomes nonexistent because two opposing views cannot both be
true.
That viewpoint
might lead some people to conclude that truth does not matter, yet because that
notion is so illogical, we should be driven to the opposite conclusion: there
is a singular truth that applies to everyone. Scripture points us to that
truth. It is the truth found in Jesus Christ, who is Truth.
Truth is what is
true in any matter under consideration. It applies to all people at all times.
Scripture readily connects truth to God. Hence, truth is absolute because God
is absolute; He does not waver; He does not change. The truth of God was manifested
in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus could witness to the truth because He was
the truth and the absolute way to the Father (John 14:6).
Setting: The verses
for this study are from the Gospel of John. John’s Gospel differs in style from
the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). For example, Matthew, and Luke
in particular, and Mark to a degree, began their Gospels with narratives about
the birth of Jesus. John, on the other hand, began his Gospel by stepping back
into eternity before time or place. He was less inclined to focus on historical
detail and chronology in favor of presenting the theological meaning of Jesus’s
coming into the world. That does not mean his Gospel has no historical value or
that the stories about Jesus are not factual or reliable. However, John’s purpose was to explore
the deeper meaning behind the events of Jesus’s life. His goal was that people
“might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing
(they) might have life through his name” (John 20:31).
The passages to be
studied in this session are connected thematically and theologically in that
they address the matter of
divine truth.
The verses from
John 3 flow out of Jesus’s evening time conversation with Nicodemus. Because
the Greek language in John’s day did not have quotation marks, we cannot say
for certain where Jesus’s direct conversation with Nicodemus ended and John’s
summary comments begin. As far as affecting their being true is concerned, it
does not matter. All Scripture is true because all Scripture is inspired by
God.
According to John
7:1, Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, sometimes known as
the Festival of Booths. This week-long festive event celebrated the fall
harvest and commemorated the protection of God over the Israelites during their
wandering in the wilderness following the Exodus. It provided an appropriate
setting for Jesus to teach about His identity and nature and the necessity of
adhering to His teachings if one was to be set free from the bondage of sin.
The verses from
John 8 come from an extensive conversation Jesus had with a group of Pharisees
in the temple who questioned His teaching and the nature of His being (7:14).
In retrospect, conversation may be a kind term to apply to this exchange. It
was more like argument and debate containing questions, accusations, and
rebuttals. Jesus’s opponents no longer confined their complaints to the content
of Jesus’s teachings; they intensified their efforts to defame His person. In
John 8:31-36, in addition to the emphasis on truth, Jesus spoke of the freedom
that truth gives to those who believe. His opponents had a limited
understanding of both concepts. Jesus offered a corrective to their
misunderstanding and an invitation not just to change their thinking, but to
allow truth to change their lives and set them free.
John 3:19-21
“This is the
judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather
than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates
the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who
lives by the truth
comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
Jesus concluded His
discussion with Nicodemus by drawing attention to an Old Testament story with
which a scholar like Nicodemus would have been familiar (Num. 21:5-9). In the
wilderness wandering of the Exodus event, the people spoke against God,
complaining about the provisions of food and water He had given them. God’s
judgment against the people came in the form of fiery serpents who bit the
people. Many people died. Thus, they asked Moses to intervene on their behalf.
The Lord accepted Moses’s intercession and directed him to fashion a brass
serpent and raise it up in the sight of the people. Those who had been bitten
would be healed if they were willing to look upon it. In the same way, Jesus
said, “So must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). The meaning of the
statement would become clearer to Nicodemus—and to us—in light of Jesus’s death
on the cross.
Light is to be understood metaphorically as that
which is true, good, and pure. Darkness represents that which is evil, ungodly,
immoral. Light enlightens, exposes, and overwhelms the darkness. In the prologue to his Gospel, John identified Jesus as light (1:5-9).
Why do
people love the darkness rather than the light?
Many people don’t
want their lives exposed to God’s light because they are afraid of what will be
revealed. They don’t want to be changed. Don’t be surprised when these same
people are threatened by your desire to obey God and do what is right. Why?
Because they are afraid that the light in you may expose some of the darkness
in their lives. Rather than giving in to discouragement, keep praying that they
will come to see how much better it is to live in light than in darkness.
People don’t enjoy
the inconvenience of their electricity being interrupted. In the darkness, we
realize our great need and appreciation for light and other services afforded
by electricity.
Sadly, many in our world have become so accustomed
to the spiritual darkness surrounding them that they believe it is acceptable. Many choose to
believe God does not exist; therefore, they think their evil deeds and choices
are without consequence. Christians know better.
As the Light, Jesus
exposes both our great need for Him and His great love for us. Nicodemus was
sincere but confused. His hope for salvation was based on a belief it could be
attained by religiously keeping the Jewish law. Jesus wanted Nicodemus to
understand that genuine salvation was a relationship, not a religion.
What are some ways
you’ve seen the world more clearly since you became a follower of Jesus?
Truth is
revealed in the light of Jesus.
People reject the
gospel of Christ because they love darkness. The choice to love darkness
results in condemnation, which means accusation, judgment, and separation from
God. We show others we love the light by demonstrating what it means to live in
the light. God changes us inwardly, but we are responsible to live it
outwardly.
John 8:31-32
Then Jesus said to
the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my
disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
When have you seen
truth bring freedom into someone’s life?
What beliefs about
the Bible truly set people free to live and why is that so?
Jesus Himself is
the truth that sets us free. He is the source of truth, the perfect standard of
what is right. He frees us from the consequences of sin, from self-deception,
and from deception by Satan. He shows us clearly the way to eternal life with
God. Jesus does not give us freedom to do what we want, but He does give us the
freedom to follow God. As we seek to serve God, Jesus’ perfect truth frees us
to be all that God meant us to be.
Read
There is nothing
quite as liberating as the truth. It is especially beneficial if your memory
isn’t what it used to be. Mark Twain once stated, “If you tell the truth, you
don’t have to remember anything.” Knowing Christ is the only way to experience
true and lasting freedom. Our common enemy has not changed his tactics after
all these years. He twisted and lied about God’s Word in the Garden of Eden,
and today he still attacks the validity and authority of Scripture.
God does not
require us to memorize a list of trivial facts about the Bible, but He does
require us to know the truth whose name is Jesus. Christ came to set us free
from the bondage of the law and rules. Eternal freedom is only found in the
person and completed work of Jesus. Are you truly free?
The truth
of Jesus sets us free to live.
Salvation comes
through believing in Jesus. Authentic discipleship is evident in abiding in
God’s Word and living by it. Those who abide in God’s Word and are faithful to
it shall know Him and the unparalleled, unquestionable, and unwavering truth
only He provides. The truth of Jesus sets us free to live faithfully obedient
to Him.
John 8:33-36
“We are descendants
of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How
can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you,
everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in the
household forever, but a son does remain forever. So if the Son sets you free,
you really will be free.”
What claim did the
Jews make to deny their need to be set free? What is false about their claim
and what did they obviously not understand about Jesus’s message? What kind of
enslavement was Jesus referring to?
Why do some people
prefer the slavery of sin to the freedom of Christ?
What actions are
sins, but we excuse them as no big deal and even do them in church?
How does sin lead
to bondage?
Sin has a way of
enslaving us, controlling us, dominating us, and dictating our actions.
What are we free to
do when we are set free from sin?
Jesus can free you
from this slavery that keeps you from becoming the person God created you to
be. If sin is restraining, mastering, or enslaving you, Jesus can break its
power over your life.
Read
Christ reminds us
we are all slaves to sin, and our only liberation is through Him. Never think
we are free to sin; rather, we are free from sin. With each choice I make, I am
either declaring my independence from sin or my dependence on it. The
often-quoted reminders found in John 14:6 serve us well in our love for the
truth. With Jesus, we have every one of our spiritual needs met — and that is
the truth.
The truth
of Jesus sets us free from sin.
Any claim to
self-righteousness or denying a need to be set free from sin is false. A sinful
lifestyle is evidence of being enslaved by sin. God the Father makes us His
children, heirs to the kingdom, and gives us eternal life. The freedom that
sets us free from sin is available only through Jesus, the Son.
Read
President Abraham
Lincoln signed the Emancipation
Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863. Part of this document reads, “All persons
held as slaves are, and henceforth, shall be free.”
The opposing
perspectives on slavery between the north and south is, in part, what led to
the southern states to secede from the Union and a bloody, brutal war to break
out.
Until the end of
the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction, slaves were merely free by
proclamation. In a practical sense, the liberty that so many longed for
remained an elusive reality.
The experience of
freed slaves during this terrible time in our nation’s history can represent
what many Christ-followers experience today.
In a spiritual
sense many Christians experience the freedom that Jesus talks about in John 8
in name only. How can we experience full freedom, both by proclamation and in
practical ways?
I believe the
answer to this question can be encouraging for us personally and strengthen our
Kingdom influence in the public square.
Jesus proclaims and
provides freedom for those that are held in spiritual slavery. Romans 6 makes
it clear that sinners, apart from the liberating work of Christ are, “enslaved
to sin” (v. 6). Jesus emancipates (sets free) sinners through his vicarious (substituted)
death and resurrection.
Baptism pictures
the connection we share with Christ and those two eternally significant
realities. Going down into and coming out of the waters of baptism symbolizes
our sharing in this work at salvation. As a result, Romans 6:7 becomes a
reality for us, “For one who has died has been set free from sin.”
One of the
historical realities that skeptics of Christianity must deal with is the resurrection.
While the resurrection itself can be denied, the claims from the earliest
Christians must be considered.
For all intents and
purposes, Christianity should have died with Jesus. But something made the
cowardly disciples courageous even unto death. Something kept the claims of
Christ going. Something did happen, Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus alone
backed up His claims about God, death, and salvation by rising from the dead.
Other truth-claims
from other religious figures are not backed up by this kind of evidence.
Therefore, the veracity of those truth claims crumble. The truth of Gospel of
Jesus Christ stands upon the firm foundation of the resurrection.
Jesus said in John
8 that we are to “continue” in His Word and “the truth will set you free.” We
are to live within the framework of the freedom that Jesus provided us when we
shared in His death and resurrection at salvation. Living this way can serve as
a sort of personal and evangelistic apologetic. Continuing in the truth will be
an effective personal and public proclamation of the reliability of the
truth-claims we make. Our lifestyle will preach a message to ourselves and to
others.
For many slaves The
Civil War stood between them and practical freedom. There is a spiritual battle
that is raging that seeks to see Christians remain in bondage. Living according
to the freedom that Jesus provides pushes back the darkness and preaches a
powerful message, both to ourselves and to others.
Freedom!
Think about the
freedom you have found in following Christ. Fill in the sentences below.
Because I know the
truth, I have freedom from - SIN
Because I know the
truth, I have freedom to - Follow God
So, why does it
really matter which truth I believe?
Because
Knowing the truth
of Christ is the only way we can experience freedom.
Conclusion
Before long Jesus
would engage in another conversation dealing with truth. He said to Pilate, “To
this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world, that I should
bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?” (John 18:37-38). For many people, the
search for an answer to that question continues. An unnecessary search it is,
for truth has been openly revealed in Jesus. Rather than search for it, a
person only has to claim it by faith in Jesus Christ. He not only manifests
truth, He is truth. There is no other.
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