The Truth Shall Set You Free

Scripture Reading: 

John 8:31-32

[31] So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Nineteen hundred years ago, Pilate asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Many others have also asked this question. We shouldn’t interpret the biblical use of the word “truth” according to our own concepts. We have to consider what truth is according to God’s Word. The word truth in Greek means “absolute truth.” Hence, truth does not refer to a doctrine but to something that is true and is a reality. We may not know the doctrine of many truths, yet we can touch the fact and reality of them.

According to John 1:17, the law was given through Moses, while grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace is not an attitude of God but the work that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, has accomplished for us. He was crucified on the cross and shed His blood to accomplish God’s work of redemption. There is no need for us to do anything, for “by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2:8). Without the work of the cross, God could not give grace to man. Through Moses, He could only give the law to man, but through the work of the cross, He gives us grace. Therefore, grace is the work of God.

Grace and truth both came through Jesus Christ. God gave the world His only begotten Son to be reality as much as grace. Through the work of His Son, there was grace and also truth. Just as the Lord Jesus had to accomplish grace before it could be dispensed to us, He also had to accomplish the truth before it could be dispensed to us. Ephesians 4:21 says, “The truth is in Jesus” (KJV). God has accomplished the truth in the Lord Jesus.The truth is in Him; it is His work.

The Lord Jesus said, “I am...the truth” (John 14:6, KJV). The truth, or reality, is what we really are before God as a result of the Lord Jesus’ accomplished work. The Lord Jesus has shed His blood to redeem all those who belong to Him. This is a fact. Because of Him, we are redeemed before the Lord. This is the truth. If the Lord Jesus had not worked, I would not have any truth or reality before the Lord. I was a dead man and a sinner before God; I did not have any standing or anything before Him. But now, thank the Lord, through the work of the Lord Jesus, I have a reality before God. I have gained something solid and real—the fact that I am now a redeemed person.

The truth mentioned in the Bible is not the doctrine preached from a platform but the fact before the Lord. A doctrine is man’s explanation of something, while the truth is what we have become in the eyes of God through the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus. Through the work of the Lord Jesus, God has made me another person. This is a truth, a reality. In God’s eyes, the work of Jesus Christ is finished. The truth is what we have become as a result of this work. Truth is the Lord Jesus Himself because all the realities are in Christ. All the facts that we have been speaking of are in Christ. We can say that two plus two equaling four is a truth, but this is not the truth that we are speaking of here. The truth that we are speaking of is just Christ Himself.

TRUTH SETS US FREE

Since we have the truth already, why is there a vast difference between what we are before the Lord and what we are in the world? The work of the cross is finished, but we are still not victorious. The Lord Jesus has changed us into one kind of person, yet on earth we still appear as another kind. Our condition does not match the truth that we hold onto before God. This is our problem.

We often do not know what the truth is. We come to God according to our own feelings and experiences rather than according to God’s truth. We must realize that God’s truth is contrary to our feelings and experiences. The one issue we have to resolve is which of the two is real. Is the Lord’s accomplishment for us before God real, or are our own feelings and experiences real? This is the question.

We are often bound because we do not see what is real. Once we see the truth, the truth sets us free. Let us mention a few things to illustrate what it means for the truth to set us free.

We will begin with salvation. Suppose a man hears the gospel and realizes that the Lord Jesus has died on the cross and shed His blood to forgive his sins. He believes in the Son of God for the forgiveness of his sins, and he receives the Lord into him. When others ask if he belongs to the Lord, he says, “Yes.” He is bursting with joy within. However, three months later, he feels a little sick, and troubles and difficulties arise in his family. It seems as if joy has departed far from him. He feels as if he is no longer saved and is no longer a child of God. When asked whether he is saved, he answers, “I am quite bothered. I have lost my former joy. I do not know where the Lord Jesus is anymore. I do not know what to say about this.” What would we say to him at this time? If we know God’s truth, we would tell him, “Brother, there is no change. You are still saved. You are saved when you feel hot, and you are still saved when you feel cold. Your feeling may change, but the work the Lord has accomplished for you and what God has given you will never change. The reality is that you are saved.”

The Lord said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” When our eyes are opened to see that we have obtained reality and truth before God through the work of the Lord, we will be free and liberated. We must remember that we are not freed according to our feeling. Only one thing frees us: the reality which is before God.

There was a brother who had definitely repented to the Lord and was a regenerated believer. After a while, however, his inward feelings became different. He felt quite grievous, and he thought that he would surely perish. Another brother came along and said to him, “How do you know that you are going to perish?” He said, “I am not the same as before. I feel cold within. Neither my prayer nor my reading of the Bible is doing me any good.” The other brother said, “That is the condition on your side, but let us consider a few questions from God’s side. Has the work of the Lord Jesus been discounted?” “No.” “Has the Lord’s work changed from what it was before?” “No.” “Has His work been annulled before God as if the new covenant were dissolved?” “No.”

“All right, we are sure that there is no change on His side. Therefore, according to truth and reality, you have not become unsaved before God. What has changed is your own feeling. You may feel that you are saved, and you may feel that you are not saved, but when God says that you are saved, will He change? You have to remember that salvation is a question of truth, not feeling.” When he heard this, he responded with tears, “It does not matter how confident I am. Whatever I say or feel means nothing. If God says that I am saved, then I am saved.” This is the truth setting us free. Spiritual reality liberates people from their own feelings. It frees them.

Let us go one step further to see how the truth sets us free. God’s Word shows us that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He bore our sins, regenerated us, and saved us. Furthermore, we were put into Him, and our old man was crucified with Him. The Lord’s death was not the death of an individual but was corporate, for we died in Him also. Through His accomplishment, we became dead. This is truth and reality.

However, before we see this truth, we are bound. When we look at ourselves, we still find our temper. When we touch our feelings, we still find our weaknesses. All the undesirable things we have from head to toe are still with us. The question now is: Are our experiences and feelings more real, or is the Lord’s work more real? Many people are weeping as if nothing is more real than their bondage, but God’s Word shows us that only one thing is real—the accomplishments of His Son Jesus. Our old man is crucified with the Lord. If we do not see this truth, we will become a slave to our temper and will be bound by our experience and feelings. Only truth and reality can set us free. If we live by our feelings and experiences, we will fail again and again, but if we see the fact of our crucifixion with the Lord, we will be set free.

Let us consider another matter: the victory of the Lord Jesus. There was a brother who was under Satan’s attacks in body and in mind. He tried all he could to pray and resist them, exhausting himself in the process. Yet for three months straight, despite his resistance and prayer, he was still under attack. One night he prayed to the Lord, “My power of resistance is exhausted, and my strength to pray is gone. Lord, show me where the root of the problem lies.” God opened his eyes and gave him a word. He had heard that word before, but he had been like the man who saw men as trees. Now he became clear. The word was this: “Is Satan worth such resistance from us?” He had never before thought that one could be wrong for resisting Satan.

On that day, he saw the reality that the Lord Jesus has overcome. When we are joined to Him, we also overcome. It is not that the Lord Jesus is about to overcome, and we cheer Him on. The truth is that He has overcome. It is not that Satan will be defeated, and we pray for the Lord to defeat him. Thank and praise the Lord that Satan is already defeated. Once that brother saw this truth, the attacks stopped. Everything became quiet, and all the problems were over. This is the truth and reality setting us free.

TRUTH AND LIGHT

In order to see the truth, we need God’s enlightening. Psalm 43:3 says, “Send forth Your light and Your truth.” The purpose of God’s light is to enlighten the truth. This is very important. We know God’s truth through the light. Truth does not come from the preaching of the word but from God’s light.

Many brothers and sisters know they have died in Christ, but this has not produced any effect on them because they have only heard the doctrine. They have not seen the truth. Whoever sees the reality has received the light. A brother once said that when God opened his eyes to see Romans 6, he saw Ephesians 6 as well. He saw that his death was a fact, the Lord’s victory was a fact, and his participation in the Lord’s victory was also a fact. In the past he was only hoping that the Lord would overcome, but now he knew that the victory was won and could praise the Lord for it. He testified that this way of living was totally different from his former way of living. Formerly, everything was in the way of yearning and hope. Now everything was reality. He was no longer trying to grasp onto something; everything was in his hands already. When the light comes, a person has to jump up and say, “It is finished!”

All Christians have been enlightened at least once when they were saved. When we are saved, we see that we do not have to hope to be saved or hope to receive eternal life in the future. Instead, we thank and praise God for accomplishing all these things in Christ. We become Christians through the light shining on the truth. In fact, all spiritual realities come through the shining of the light upon the truth.

Therefore, when a truth is being preached without the accompanying shining of the light, it becomes a doctrine. However, when truth is preached, and God’s light shines upon it, the truth becomes revelation. To receive a revelation is to receive the truth. Those who receive a doctrine are merely filling their minds with ideas. Only those who have received a revelation receive reality and life.

THE SPIRIT AND WORD OF TRUTH

When God’s light shines, the Holy Spirit brings us into the spiritual reality of what the light shines on. On the one hand, there is the Spirit of truth, who is the Comforter (John 15:26). On the other hand, there is the word of truth, which is the Bible. There are first the facts of truth—the things that God has accomplished in Christ. When the Bible tells us these facts of truth, and we believe in the words of truth, the Holy Spirit brings us into the truth itself, that is, into the spiritual reality. The Lord Jesus is the reality, and God brings us into the reality through His Spirit. In this way, we no longer have a doctrine or teaching. Instead of living in our feelings or experiences, we live in Christ’s accomplished facts.

The main question, then, is whether or not we have revelation. When we have revelation, instead of being concerned about our own experiences or feelings, we will believe that everything on God’s side is real. Many Christians consider that their old man is still living and that it is very real. They dare not believe that they were crucified with Christ. Once they see the revelation, however, they change. The revelation shows them that their old man is surely and undeniably dead. Only those who receive the revelation of the Holy Spirit enter into the reality and can ascertain what is and is not real.

When God accomplishes something and we see what He has accomplished, we have the real experience. Praise and thank the Lord, when we see what God has accomplished and say yes to whatever God has said yes to, we have the real experience. May the Lord open our eyes to see the truth. Once we see the truth, it sets us free (John 8:32). Our liberation and freedom come from the truth. We should all seek after the truth, the reality. May God lead us into all reality (John 16:13).

Related information:

The words that the Lord spoke to us are truth. John 17:17 says, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” Before this, the Lord said, “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:15–16).

In the Bible, the world has three different aspects: the sinful world, the material world, and the religious world. The sinful world is related to our body. The material world is related to our soul. The religious world is related to our spirit. Our living is not apart from the world, and as a result, the Lord prayed to the Father—not that we would be taken from the world, but that we would be kept from the evil one.

Dear brothers, how can we be saved from the world, especially the religious world? It is through the Lord and through the living and abiding word of God! The Lord prayed that we not only have a sanctified living and serving, but that we ourselves would be sanctified, separated unto Him. He said, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” The word is truth, and the truth sanctifies us. How wonderful this is! Our Lord is the Word of life, and the words He spoke to us are truth. “Word” cannot be separated from “life.” The words are living and abiding. They are not doctrine for us to research. The words are not knowledge for us to stock up on. In fact, the letter kills (2 Cor. 3:6). The words of the Lord are spirit and life. When we have the Word of life, we have the truth. When we have the truth, we are sanctified.

Our Lord doesn’t want us to live a religious life. He doesn’t want us to dwell in the religious world. He is living, heavenly, and with resurrection power and energy, and we come to His presence. We need to worship Him! It is amazing that ones like us can fellowship with His being. How can we fellowship with His being? It is through the word—the word of spirit, the word of life, and the word of truth! Oh, saints, when we come to the word of truth, it gives us the Spirit and life so that we can be joined to the Lord and be sanctified through our blending with Him.

(Excerpted from "Come to the Presence of the Lord" by Titus Chu - "I Come Just as I Am" Chapter 34)

Enjoy the Hymns:

《愿主为我擘开生命的饼》生命诗歌 710首；选本诗歌337首

《阿们神的话语》生命诗歌 500首

Questions:

1.How does the truth free us from our own feelings?

2.How do we see the truth?

Prayer:

Dear Lord, I admit that I often live according to my own feelings rather than Your truth. Please lead me past my feelings into Your truth. I ask that You would shine Your light on me and bring me into the reality of spiritual things. Liberate me from my own feelings, Lord! I’d like to be free in Your truth so that I can live and work for You. Thank You for being so willing to shine Your light. Prepare me, Lord, to receive Your shining. I love You, Lord.

Application and Practice:

Every morning, spend 20 minutes calling on the name of the Lord, praying, reading a verse of the Bible aloud, and then praying again!