What is Your Standard of Truth? 08/21/2016
(n John 8:31&32 Jesus said, "...If you continue in my word then you are my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." However, many who heard Jesus' words that day preferred to trust in and depend on their religion and culture as their standard of truth; so they were offended by Jesus' claim: that he and his word were the standard of truth and that people needed the truth to free them from the guilt and power of evil.
The Creator God is by very definition is the standard of truth.
But people are described in The Bible as rebels who chose not to live according to the truth that they hold. 2 Thessalonians 2:10 describes people who were unwilling to receive the love of the truth, so that they could be saved."
Romans 1:18 says that, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness."
Throughout the entire Bible people are held accountable for the truth that they hold. So who is the wrath of God revealed from heaven against? Those who hold the truth. No one is held accountable for truth they do not have; because you cannot be held responsible for truth you did not know. James 4:17 states, "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." So clearly there is a difference between knowing and believing!!!
You act upon what you believe. There is a fascinating connection between the words unbelief and disobedience in the original Greek language. The Greek word for unbelief is : 'apistia' (ap-is-tee'-ah). It's translated: unbelief, distrust, unfaithfulness, withholding of belief. All of those things involve a freewill choice.
The Greek word for disobedience is: 'apeitheia' (ap-i'-thi-ah) and is defined as willful unbelief, obstinacy & disobedience. Honestly think about it; what you believe determines how you behave and you have to decide for yourself what you will or will not believe.
Infants and the mentally impaired are net held accountable for moral choices. Every one else is responsible before both God and man and is judged according to the amount of truth that they hold.
It is the duty of the Author of all things to deal with rebellion against His Authority. The wrath of God is the necessary response of The Chief Justice of the world to bring judgment upon anyone who violates the principals of His moral government; just as it is the necessary response of our judicial system to punish anyone who violates the laws of our land. Any one who commits a crime owes a debt to society that must be paid. Justice satisfies an obligation. God's wrath is against those who demonstrate their rebellion against Him by their ungodly and unrighteous choices.
The wrath of God is not some kind of uncontrolled tantrum of a cruel control freak. It is revealed from the very seat of universal moral government indicating the seriousness of the offense. God created us in His image to reflect His good character by loving and being loved by Him and each other. (Love brings God and us pleasure. Love is founded on truth!) To be ungodly is to behave contrary our moral responsibility to God and others by refusing to do what we know is right!
All people are made responsible by holding truth. If you didn't hold the truth of God, you would not feel guilt. Just as pain is not a useless feeling; guilt is not a useless emotion. Pain warns us that something is physically wrong. Guilt warns us that something is spiritually wrong.
A sense of personal guilt is testimony that you have willfully violated your own sense of truth/right and wrong. If you did not know that you broke some law that you never heard of, you would not and could not blame yourself; and God could not blame you either.
According to Romans 1 to "hold the truth" is to know God. The people described in Romans 1 did not know The Creator God personally, but He has revealed Himself sufficiently through His creation and their conscience that they had been provided with enough understanding to make them responsible. Romans 1: 20 &21 says, "..they are without excuse: because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God neither were thankful". Romans 1:28 explains that "...they did not like to retain God in their knowledge..." You cannot retain something in your knowledge that was never there.
Throughout the Bible it is clear that God doesn't believe in atheists. The Bible asserts that people have the truth, but reject it. Once you are aware of truth you cannot become unaware of it. You can chose not to "retain God in your knowledge" and call yourself an atheist; but verbally rejecting the truth will never blot out the responsibility awakened by knowledge of that truth.
You can chose to live for an idol such as money, drugs, sex, or anything else you chose to depend on for satisfaction instead of depending on your Creator to provide for your needs; but you will still be held responsible for the truth that you suppressed and rejected. We have all violated our own sense of truth because in reality none of us have done our best. The fact that any honest person will admit that he could do better proves that we don't even live up to our own standard of truth let alone God's standard of truth. So, rather than diligently searching for Truth and facing it; people tend to regard Truth as something that is theirs to manipulate or suppress as needed to further their own unrighteous agendas. We see ourselves as a highly enlightened people: so enlightened, we generally believe we get to tell God “how it really is” – what the TRUTH is. We imagine our own facts to accommodate how we chose to look at our world. We rewrite history to justify our bitterness and rebellion, so that we can balance our guilt with blame. Since grappling with Truth can refute the lies we so desperately want to believe, many say, “Don’t confuse me with the facts! My mind is made up." John 3:19 puts it this way: "Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil"
Consider the 4 'brain surgery' questions if you're actually seeking truth:
#1) What do you mean by what you're saying. Clarify definitions: for example 'word of God'. Over 26 books claim to be 'the word of God'; what exactly do you mean? Do you believe the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon: which one if any is the word of God?
#2) How do you know? What is the source of the information and how do you know it's reliable? Where is the evidence that proves what you heard is truth?
#3) What difference would it make in your life if these things are true? That's the real kicker; we are more inclined to chose what to live by, based on what kind of lifestyle changes believing or not believing something requires, rather than basing our belief on hard evidence!
#4)What if you die and you're wrong?
Question #3 exemplifies people who say, “the god I believe in could never have created a place of eternal torment called Hell.” Even though we have the freedom to chose to believe in any kind of god we want, that doesn't change the reality of the character of the 1 true and living God of The Bible whose love involves truth, justice and grace. Whether or not you believe it, truth does not change due to your opinion. The God of the Bible speaks of Hell clearly and repeatedly. We can chose what to believe; but what we believe doesn't change the truth about what we believe. If I stand in front of an oncoming train and say 'I don't believe in trains'; that will not prevent me from being hit by the train. If you die in your sins, God will give you justice, whether or not you believe in Him.
The Bible tells us God created man, “in His own image;” it never tells us we get to return the favor, and create God in OUR image!
In the Bible the prophets and apostles inform us that the TRUTH is absolutely vital, and NOT to be forsaken or compromised. In John’s Gospel, TRUTH is IDENTIFIED with the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself in very striking ways:
In John 1:14 Jesus is called “the only-begotten of the Father, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH”
John 1:17 says, “the Law was given by Moses; GRACE AND TRUTH came by Jesus Christ."
In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the Way, I AM THE TRUTH, I am the Life, no man cometh unto The Father but by Me."”
In John 18:37-38 Jesus told Pilate: “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, THAT I SHOULD BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTH. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, WHAT IS TRUTH? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and told them, I find in him no fault at all.”
In v. 37, notice that Jesus clearly pointedly identified “the TRUTH” as the very purpose for which he came.
If you truly love Jesus you will hate what He hates: sin; and you will love what He loves: truth;
Jesus said in John 4:24, “they that worship the Father MUST worship Him in Spirit and IN TRUTH.”
Though we don’t get to choose WHAT Truth is, but we are free to choose how we respond to the truth.
Pontius Pilate responded to Jesus by questioning the concept of absolute truth. “What IS Truth?”
But he and we cannot escape dealing with the Truth by reducing it to some nebulous, abstract thing that can't even really be known. Imagining that if you can’t pin down exactly what Truth IS, you can’t be held accountable to it, won't work
Tragically, Pilate didn’t wait around for an answer. But there IS an answer!
If he had waited a bit longer in the Presence of the Living Personification of TRUTH, he likely would have heard precious Truth such as the Lord Jesus gave to another guy on another occasion.
Something like, “For God so loved PONTIUS PILATE, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that if PONTIUS PILATE would believe on Him, he would not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Certainly, the Love of God was freely available to Pontius Pilate that day; it simply required that he stop, hear and face the Truth; believe that the Truth is intended for him as it is for EVERY ONE.
When the Truth is as amazing and wonderful as that, we may wonder why men are so bent on fighting it.
The answer is in John 3:19, "Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil"
Those who want tolerance to trump truth as the highest value claim that LOVE and TRUTH are incompatible; that we owe the very highest allegiance to LOVE, and for LOVE’s sake, and we need to set aside our concern for TRUTH. That is obviously not true! It reveals a gross misunderstanding of both. Paul told the Colossians to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly and it will affect all other relationships in a loving way. Throughout the Bible we are told to “Walk in the Truth” and "LOVE one another!”
The two can hardly be “incompatible!” It is ONLY from the rich indwelling of TRUTH that LOVE is born and is able to thrive! You can't have love without trust; and trust is based on TRUTH!!!
Put another way, LOVE is simply TRUTH living, abiding in the heart of the believer, bearing fruit in his life as he/she walks by faith IN Truth
If you forsake TRUTH, or compromise TRUTH, you no longer have what the Bible calls LOVE!
Oh, you may certainly have what the Beatles call “love” (and there are still enough of us around who know how that worked out for them!)
You may have a politically correct 'love': A “love” that holds us to no particular standard or conviction of right or wrong, and is ultimately a whole lot more self-directed and less tolerant than most people are willing to admit. That kind of all inclusive 'love' is grossly intolerant of people who believe in absolute truth written in the Bible.
The Truth is, “we the people” are really not the ones qualified to define LOVE and TRUTH, as much as we like to think we can. The LOVE of the Bible always chooses what is BEST for the beloved in view of eternity, regardless of the cost, because we esteem them as precious. But how do we determine what “best” is??
You have got to have an objective standard to determine what is “good/best”. You need The TRUTH as a standard to measure by; to make that determination
When we know what “best” IS, we then realize that LOVE must sometimes sacrifice, and sometimes must endure or even cause discomfort or pain for that which is “BEST.”
Case in point:
“Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” Friends LOVE you, and truly want what is BEST for you – NOT just what is most thrilling or fun for the moment. True friends are genuinely concerned about how that moment could affect the rest of your life!
We all get that, except maybe the guy that IS drunk at the moment – he may not consider it the most loving thing. What's more important: to keep people happy as they are on their way to destruction, OR to warn them of the danger ahead and tell them how to avoid it.
Jesus says it’s the TRUTH that sets us free (John 8:31-32); it’s the TRUTH that sanctifies us (John 17:17); it’s the TRUTH that “builds us up and gives us an inheritance among all those that are sanctified” (Acts 20:32); it’s the TRUTH that “saves our souls” (James 1:21).
SO – if you love Jesus, you will love the TRUTH. If you love people, you will see to it they get that TRUTH; because you realize how that is a matter of life and death that they get the real deal. You will show them that love and truth were most clearly defined and fully displayed when Jesus Christ satisfied justice on our behalf as He served our death sentence on the cross of Calvary.
But in spite of overwhelming evidence people who hold the truth in unrighteousness still try to deny the truth of very word of God. They even try to twist the truth of the written record. A favorite passage they use to support their claim that there is no absolute standard of truth/right and wrong is in John 8:1-11. They use Jesus' statement that he doesn't condemn a woman caught in adultery, out of context to create a general axiom claiming that there is no absolute truth moral standard by which we can judge right and wrong because everything is relative to culture and religion.
Let's look at what's happening in this passage. Early one morning Jesus
came from the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem, to the temple court of the Gentiles, There the Lord Jesus sat down and began to teach people who had gathered around him. Suddenly some religious and legal professionals stormed into the group with a captured woman. Placing her on display, they proceeded to interrogate Jesus: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses commands that she should be stoned to death. What do you have to say about this?” Quietly, the Son of God stooped down, and wrote with his finger in the dust. (We don't have the record of what Jesus wrote, but the only other time that The Bible says that God wrote with His finger was when He wrote the commandments on tables of stone.) The officials kept demanding an answer while he wrote. Jesus stood up and told them, " He that is without sin among you, let him throw the 1st stone at her." Jesus again stooped down and wrote on the ground. As he did the accusers were convicted by their own consciences and left 1 by 1, until Jesus and the woman were left alone. Jesus asked her, "Where are your accusers? Hasn't anyone condemned you?" She said, "No one Lord!" Then Jesus told her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
It's important to notice that at that point the woman called Jesus "Lord" indicating that she recognized and appreciated His trustworthy character and right to rule: a sign of repentance.
Let's check out some other things to keep in mind in this passage to that will prevent us from missing the message here.
#1) The Law of God is commandments; they're not suggestions that are subject to our circumstances or opinions. When the woman's accusers were reminded of God's law their consciences responded with guilt and shame knowing that they deserved the death sentence that they were demanding for the adulteress. The Law of God was given to make us face our offenses so that we can recognize the gravity of violating God's word and appreciate the price that The very Son of God paid to set us free from both the guilt and power of our sin. God has given everyone a conscience, but we can deny it until its seared. (1 Tim 4:2)
#2) Only Jesus had the right to condemn her; but He also had the right to forgive her. (See Luke 5:23-24) He did so evidently because He knew she was repentant. (John 2:25 He is God so He knows what is inside of everyone's heart.)
Now let's look at the basic facts of the case:
A woman was apprehended while committing adultery. That is, she was engaged in sexual activity that violated the law of God. The legal and religious experts that arrested her were obviously not interested in justice. If they had been, they would have taken her to the proper authorities of Jerusalem, not some guy who went around doing miracles and claiming to be God, yet held no political office and had no official religious position. Besides that the law of Moses that they were appealing to clearly states that that both consenting participants in sexual immorality were guilty, not just the woman. (See Lev. 20:10 & Duet. 22:22). These legal and religious leaders of the day, measured truth and justice by their own double standard. Why did they let the guilty man go free and charge the woman?
These self righteous prosecutors knew they were twisting the truth to achieve their own evil ends. They were self appointed, revisionist judges who did not regard the very law they claimed to honor by distorting the word of God; and people today are still trying to do the same thing.
Jesus did not ignore or condone the woman's sin, when He said, “Neither do I condemn you.”
He was not sanctioning sexual immorality, nor minimizing her wickedness—quite the contrary. Christ was commenting upon the legal aspect of the situation. With the accusers gone, there was no case left! The witnesses were required to throw the first stones (Deuteronomy 17:7); without them the matter could proceed no further.
Proof that the Lord was not tolerant of the woman’s sin is the fact that he said: “Go on your way; and sin no more.” The verb (“sin”) is a present tense command form conveying the idea: “Stop this life of sin.” Christ clearly indicated that what the woman did was sin and He did not condone it.
Please read and consider 1 John 1:6, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth."
Some material drawn from: Ernie Richards, Mike Pearl, Ray Comfort (Living Waters Ministry) and perhaps others whose stuff I studied and use but have forgotten who they were.
The Creator God is by very definition is the standard of truth.
But people are described in The Bible as rebels who chose not to live according to the truth that they hold. 2 Thessalonians 2:10 describes people who were unwilling to receive the love of the truth, so that they could be saved."
Romans 1:18 says that, "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness."
Throughout the entire Bible people are held accountable for the truth that they hold. So who is the wrath of God revealed from heaven against? Those who hold the truth. No one is held accountable for truth they do not have; because you cannot be held responsible for truth you did not know. James 4:17 states, "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." So clearly there is a difference between knowing and believing!!!
You act upon what you believe. There is a fascinating connection between the words unbelief and disobedience in the original Greek language. The Greek word for unbelief is : 'apistia' (ap-is-tee'-ah). It's translated: unbelief, distrust, unfaithfulness, withholding of belief. All of those things involve a freewill choice.
The Greek word for disobedience is: 'apeitheia' (ap-i'-thi-ah) and is defined as willful unbelief, obstinacy & disobedience. Honestly think about it; what you believe determines how you behave and you have to decide for yourself what you will or will not believe.
Infants and the mentally impaired are net held accountable for moral choices. Every one else is responsible before both God and man and is judged according to the amount of truth that they hold.
It is the duty of the Author of all things to deal with rebellion against His Authority. The wrath of God is the necessary response of The Chief Justice of the world to bring judgment upon anyone who violates the principals of His moral government; just as it is the necessary response of our judicial system to punish anyone who violates the laws of our land. Any one who commits a crime owes a debt to society that must be paid. Justice satisfies an obligation. God's wrath is against those who demonstrate their rebellion against Him by their ungodly and unrighteous choices.
The wrath of God is not some kind of uncontrolled tantrum of a cruel control freak. It is revealed from the very seat of universal moral government indicating the seriousness of the offense. God created us in His image to reflect His good character by loving and being loved by Him and each other. (Love brings God and us pleasure. Love is founded on truth!) To be ungodly is to behave contrary our moral responsibility to God and others by refusing to do what we know is right!
All people are made responsible by holding truth. If you didn't hold the truth of God, you would not feel guilt. Just as pain is not a useless feeling; guilt is not a useless emotion. Pain warns us that something is physically wrong. Guilt warns us that something is spiritually wrong.
A sense of personal guilt is testimony that you have willfully violated your own sense of truth/right and wrong. If you did not know that you broke some law that you never heard of, you would not and could not blame yourself; and God could not blame you either.
According to Romans 1 to "hold the truth" is to know God. The people described in Romans 1 did not know The Creator God personally, but He has revealed Himself sufficiently through His creation and their conscience that they had been provided with enough understanding to make them responsible. Romans 1: 20 &21 says, "..they are without excuse: because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God neither were thankful". Romans 1:28 explains that "...they did not like to retain God in their knowledge..." You cannot retain something in your knowledge that was never there.
Throughout the Bible it is clear that God doesn't believe in atheists. The Bible asserts that people have the truth, but reject it. Once you are aware of truth you cannot become unaware of it. You can chose not to "retain God in your knowledge" and call yourself an atheist; but verbally rejecting the truth will never blot out the responsibility awakened by knowledge of that truth.
You can chose to live for an idol such as money, drugs, sex, or anything else you chose to depend on for satisfaction instead of depending on your Creator to provide for your needs; but you will still be held responsible for the truth that you suppressed and rejected. We have all violated our own sense of truth because in reality none of us have done our best. The fact that any honest person will admit that he could do better proves that we don't even live up to our own standard of truth let alone God's standard of truth. So, rather than diligently searching for Truth and facing it; people tend to regard Truth as something that is theirs to manipulate or suppress as needed to further their own unrighteous agendas. We see ourselves as a highly enlightened people: so enlightened, we generally believe we get to tell God “how it really is” – what the TRUTH is. We imagine our own facts to accommodate how we chose to look at our world. We rewrite history to justify our bitterness and rebellion, so that we can balance our guilt with blame. Since grappling with Truth can refute the lies we so desperately want to believe, many say, “Don’t confuse me with the facts! My mind is made up." John 3:19 puts it this way: "Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil"
Consider the 4 'brain surgery' questions if you're actually seeking truth:
#1) What do you mean by what you're saying. Clarify definitions: for example 'word of God'. Over 26 books claim to be 'the word of God'; what exactly do you mean? Do you believe the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon: which one if any is the word of God?
#2) How do you know? What is the source of the information and how do you know it's reliable? Where is the evidence that proves what you heard is truth?
#3) What difference would it make in your life if these things are true? That's the real kicker; we are more inclined to chose what to live by, based on what kind of lifestyle changes believing or not believing something requires, rather than basing our belief on hard evidence!
#4)What if you die and you're wrong?
Question #3 exemplifies people who say, “the god I believe in could never have created a place of eternal torment called Hell.” Even though we have the freedom to chose to believe in any kind of god we want, that doesn't change the reality of the character of the 1 true and living God of The Bible whose love involves truth, justice and grace. Whether or not you believe it, truth does not change due to your opinion. The God of the Bible speaks of Hell clearly and repeatedly. We can chose what to believe; but what we believe doesn't change the truth about what we believe. If I stand in front of an oncoming train and say 'I don't believe in trains'; that will not prevent me from being hit by the train. If you die in your sins, God will give you justice, whether or not you believe in Him.
The Bible tells us God created man, “in His own image;” it never tells us we get to return the favor, and create God in OUR image!
In the Bible the prophets and apostles inform us that the TRUTH is absolutely vital, and NOT to be forsaken or compromised. In John’s Gospel, TRUTH is IDENTIFIED with the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself in very striking ways:
In John 1:14 Jesus is called “the only-begotten of the Father, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH”
John 1:17 says, “the Law was given by Moses; GRACE AND TRUTH came by Jesus Christ."
In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the Way, I AM THE TRUTH, I am the Life, no man cometh unto The Father but by Me."”
In John 18:37-38 Jesus told Pilate: “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, THAT I SHOULD BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTH. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, WHAT IS TRUTH? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and told them, I find in him no fault at all.”
In v. 37, notice that Jesus clearly pointedly identified “the TRUTH” as the very purpose for which he came.
If you truly love Jesus you will hate what He hates: sin; and you will love what He loves: truth;
Jesus said in John 4:24, “they that worship the Father MUST worship Him in Spirit and IN TRUTH.”
Though we don’t get to choose WHAT Truth is, but we are free to choose how we respond to the truth.
Pontius Pilate responded to Jesus by questioning the concept of absolute truth. “What IS Truth?”
But he and we cannot escape dealing with the Truth by reducing it to some nebulous, abstract thing that can't even really be known. Imagining that if you can’t pin down exactly what Truth IS, you can’t be held accountable to it, won't work
Tragically, Pilate didn’t wait around for an answer. But there IS an answer!
If he had waited a bit longer in the Presence of the Living Personification of TRUTH, he likely would have heard precious Truth such as the Lord Jesus gave to another guy on another occasion.
Something like, “For God so loved PONTIUS PILATE, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that if PONTIUS PILATE would believe on Him, he would not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Certainly, the Love of God was freely available to Pontius Pilate that day; it simply required that he stop, hear and face the Truth; believe that the Truth is intended for him as it is for EVERY ONE.
When the Truth is as amazing and wonderful as that, we may wonder why men are so bent on fighting it.
The answer is in John 3:19, "Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil"
Those who want tolerance to trump truth as the highest value claim that LOVE and TRUTH are incompatible; that we owe the very highest allegiance to LOVE, and for LOVE’s sake, and we need to set aside our concern for TRUTH. That is obviously not true! It reveals a gross misunderstanding of both. Paul told the Colossians to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly and it will affect all other relationships in a loving way. Throughout the Bible we are told to “Walk in the Truth” and "LOVE one another!”
The two can hardly be “incompatible!” It is ONLY from the rich indwelling of TRUTH that LOVE is born and is able to thrive! You can't have love without trust; and trust is based on TRUTH!!!
Put another way, LOVE is simply TRUTH living, abiding in the heart of the believer, bearing fruit in his life as he/she walks by faith IN Truth
If you forsake TRUTH, or compromise TRUTH, you no longer have what the Bible calls LOVE!
Oh, you may certainly have what the Beatles call “love” (and there are still enough of us around who know how that worked out for them!)
You may have a politically correct 'love': A “love” that holds us to no particular standard or conviction of right or wrong, and is ultimately a whole lot more self-directed and less tolerant than most people are willing to admit. That kind of all inclusive 'love' is grossly intolerant of people who believe in absolute truth written in the Bible.
The Truth is, “we the people” are really not the ones qualified to define LOVE and TRUTH, as much as we like to think we can. The LOVE of the Bible always chooses what is BEST for the beloved in view of eternity, regardless of the cost, because we esteem them as precious. But how do we determine what “best” is??
You have got to have an objective standard to determine what is “good/best”. You need The TRUTH as a standard to measure by; to make that determination
When we know what “best” IS, we then realize that LOVE must sometimes sacrifice, and sometimes must endure or even cause discomfort or pain for that which is “BEST.”
Case in point:
“Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” Friends LOVE you, and truly want what is BEST for you – NOT just what is most thrilling or fun for the moment. True friends are genuinely concerned about how that moment could affect the rest of your life!
We all get that, except maybe the guy that IS drunk at the moment – he may not consider it the most loving thing. What's more important: to keep people happy as they are on their way to destruction, OR to warn them of the danger ahead and tell them how to avoid it.
Jesus says it’s the TRUTH that sets us free (John 8:31-32); it’s the TRUTH that sanctifies us (John 17:17); it’s the TRUTH that “builds us up and gives us an inheritance among all those that are sanctified” (Acts 20:32); it’s the TRUTH that “saves our souls” (James 1:21).
SO – if you love Jesus, you will love the TRUTH. If you love people, you will see to it they get that TRUTH; because you realize how that is a matter of life and death that they get the real deal. You will show them that love and truth were most clearly defined and fully displayed when Jesus Christ satisfied justice on our behalf as He served our death sentence on the cross of Calvary.
But in spite of overwhelming evidence people who hold the truth in unrighteousness still try to deny the truth of very word of God. They even try to twist the truth of the written record. A favorite passage they use to support their claim that there is no absolute standard of truth/right and wrong is in John 8:1-11. They use Jesus' statement that he doesn't condemn a woman caught in adultery, out of context to create a general axiom claiming that there is no absolute truth moral standard by which we can judge right and wrong because everything is relative to culture and religion.
Let's look at what's happening in this passage. Early one morning Jesus
came from the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem, to the temple court of the Gentiles, There the Lord Jesus sat down and began to teach people who had gathered around him. Suddenly some religious and legal professionals stormed into the group with a captured woman. Placing her on display, they proceeded to interrogate Jesus: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law of Moses commands that she should be stoned to death. What do you have to say about this?” Quietly, the Son of God stooped down, and wrote with his finger in the dust. (We don't have the record of what Jesus wrote, but the only other time that The Bible says that God wrote with His finger was when He wrote the commandments on tables of stone.) The officials kept demanding an answer while he wrote. Jesus stood up and told them, " He that is without sin among you, let him throw the 1st stone at her." Jesus again stooped down and wrote on the ground. As he did the accusers were convicted by their own consciences and left 1 by 1, until Jesus and the woman were left alone. Jesus asked her, "Where are your accusers? Hasn't anyone condemned you?" She said, "No one Lord!" Then Jesus told her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."
It's important to notice that at that point the woman called Jesus "Lord" indicating that she recognized and appreciated His trustworthy character and right to rule: a sign of repentance.
Let's check out some other things to keep in mind in this passage to that will prevent us from missing the message here.
#1) The Law of God is commandments; they're not suggestions that are subject to our circumstances or opinions. When the woman's accusers were reminded of God's law their consciences responded with guilt and shame knowing that they deserved the death sentence that they were demanding for the adulteress. The Law of God was given to make us face our offenses so that we can recognize the gravity of violating God's word and appreciate the price that The very Son of God paid to set us free from both the guilt and power of our sin. God has given everyone a conscience, but we can deny it until its seared. (1 Tim 4:2)
#2) Only Jesus had the right to condemn her; but He also had the right to forgive her. (See Luke 5:23-24) He did so evidently because He knew she was repentant. (John 2:25 He is God so He knows what is inside of everyone's heart.)
Now let's look at the basic facts of the case:
A woman was apprehended while committing adultery. That is, she was engaged in sexual activity that violated the law of God. The legal and religious experts that arrested her were obviously not interested in justice. If they had been, they would have taken her to the proper authorities of Jerusalem, not some guy who went around doing miracles and claiming to be God, yet held no political office and had no official religious position. Besides that the law of Moses that they were appealing to clearly states that that both consenting participants in sexual immorality were guilty, not just the woman. (See Lev. 20:10 & Duet. 22:22). These legal and religious leaders of the day, measured truth and justice by their own double standard. Why did they let the guilty man go free and charge the woman?
These self righteous prosecutors knew they were twisting the truth to achieve their own evil ends. They were self appointed, revisionist judges who did not regard the very law they claimed to honor by distorting the word of God; and people today are still trying to do the same thing.
Jesus did not ignore or condone the woman's sin, when He said, “Neither do I condemn you.”
He was not sanctioning sexual immorality, nor minimizing her wickedness—quite the contrary. Christ was commenting upon the legal aspect of the situation. With the accusers gone, there was no case left! The witnesses were required to throw the first stones (Deuteronomy 17:7); without them the matter could proceed no further.
Proof that the Lord was not tolerant of the woman’s sin is the fact that he said: “Go on your way; and sin no more.” The verb (“sin”) is a present tense command form conveying the idea: “Stop this life of sin.” Christ clearly indicated that what the woman did was sin and He did not condone it.
Please read and consider 1 John 1:6, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth."
Some material drawn from: Ernie Richards, Mike Pearl, Ray Comfort (Living Waters Ministry) and perhaps others whose stuff I studied and use but have forgotten who they were.