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The Love of the Truth is essential to salvation; those who lack it are sure to be deceived and are set for destruction (2 Thessalonians 2.9-12). Following that line of reasoning, we conclude that one cannot receive the love of the truth without knowing the truth. This leads us to explore the question, “How can man – any man – know the truth and know that he knows it?” The answer to this question must not originate with man; it must come from God!

We noted with great interest how Jesus spoke to the paralytic man who was brought to Him. When He “saw their faith,” He simply said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Luke 5.20). The scribes and the Pharisees immediately understood the implications of His statement. They correctly reasoned that only God can forgive sins, and since Jesus claimed to forgive sins, He was claiming to be God. As we noted yesterday, anyone can claim to forgive sins, but only God can actually accomplish it and confirm the same. These things being true and having summarily rejected the idea that Jesus was Deity, the scribes and Pharisees believed Him to be a blasphemer.

There was only one condition under which Jesus was not guilty of blasphemy! If Jesus was really Deity, if He really was equal to God, He was not guilty of blasphemy. In this particular case, we do not know the exact motives of the scribes and Pharisees, but if we give them the benefit of the doubt, it is possible that they really thought that Jesus was elevating Himself to a position that was not rightfully His and which belonged solely to God the Father. If they were sincere and were acting according to the dictates of their hearts, they were merely “calling the hand” of an impostor and a dangerous false teacher; if their contentions were true, He was a blasphemer of the most injurious sort!

However, giving the scribes and Pharisees this much credit on this occasion goes beyond the actual situation. Jesus knew their thoughts and “called their hand” by saying, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Matthew 9.4). He not only knew their hearts, but they knew that He knew; they knew because they had only been reasoning in their hearts (not verbalizing their thoughts). The fact that Jesus could read their thoughts was the first clue that they were not dealing with an ordinary man; conclusive proof was not long in coming!

We are yet pursuing the answer to one of life’s most crucial questions: “How can man – any man – know the truth and know that he knows it? How could the scribes and Pharisees have known the truth about Jesus? How were they to know that Jesus was not just another crackpot who was coming to erode the power of the religious establishment and cause discontent among the Jewish people? Well, we can rest assured that there was a way they could have known! By reasoning correctly regarding the facts which were available to them, they could have determined the authenticity of Jesus’ claim and whether or not He really possessed all the attributes of God! (To be continued).

God grants man the ability to listen, observe, reason, and choose. If used properly, these keys open up doors of unfathomable treasures; misused or abused, they are the means to self deception and condemnation! Our challenge: Use them the way God intends!

Questions:

1. How did Jesus know what the men were thinking about Him?

2. Could these men have known whether or not Jesus was more than a mere man?

3. How can the ability to listen, observe, reason and choose become a curse? How can we keep it from becoming a curse?

4. Where does forgiveness of sins take place? That being said, how can any one know his own sins have been forgiven (caution – give a biblical answer, not one that you have heard some pastor or modern day prophet say)?

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

A World of One