Now We Know the Truth
John 8:32
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Before the 1940s and 1950s, the connection between smoking and lung cancer wasn’t widely recognized. Even into the sixties, only one third of doctors in this country agreed there was a link between smoking and lung cancer. Today, however, we know the truth. Smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer. That’s led the government to restrict advertising of cigarettes, to force cigarette manufacturers to put warning labels on their product, and to tax cigarettes heavily. Even in just the last 15 years, the number of people who smoke has reduced by about half. Knowing the truth has made a change.
Jesus tells us we will know the truth, and that truth will set us free. What truth? Is it the truth about a secret conspiracy that will change how you look at how the world is run? Is it a truth like when a child grows up and learns that being an adult isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? Is it truth that completely goes against what your eyes and ears tell you?
Jesus said in the verse prior, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” And then in the verse we’re looking at, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” He said in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus teaches us the truth. He teaches the truth about why the world is the way it is. It’s not progressing toward perfection. Creation is crumbling. “There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. … Heaven and earth will pass away” (Matthew 24:7,35a).
He teaches the truth about who we are. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). The lost. Sinners. Unworthy of God's love and deserving of all punishment.
And yet …
He teaches the truth about who our heavenly Father is, that he does not want our works but our hearts. “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6:29). It’s not the Father’s will to condemn but to save. “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:40).
He tells us the truth about who he is. “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:7). “I am the gate for the sheep” (John 10:7). “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35). “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:25).
This is the truth that sets us free. It’s not a hidden truth or a secret kept from you. It’s not something only “they” know or only a few are privileged to hear about. God makes it clear to the world through his Word, through the Word (John 1:1), that forgiveness and salvation are ours by faith in Christ. We are free from sin. Free from guilt. Free from death.
Now is the time to hold onto this truth. Forget about finding holes in what is broadly proclaimed as truth. Don’t go looking for truth in dark corners. While other truths may change in an instant, this one truth remains unchanged and unchangeable: If the Son has set you free (and he has!), you are free indeed (John 8:36).