Subscription Lists

The love of the truth is, as we have established earlier, a spiritual fundamental. It has no substitutes; there is no “plan B” to make up for a genuine love for the truth. Moses was a man who loved the truth. David also loved the truth and pursued it with all his might. The prophets were men who had an insatiable love for truth and declared it without fear or favor. However, no one could have loved the truth more that Jesus Christ. Our message today and for a few days hence will focus on this tremendous trait of our Lord.

From the outset, there was a contrast between one of Christ’s most prominent traits and those of others around Him. Herod loved power but had little love for the truth. His desire for power was so strong that it moved him to murder countless infants in and around Bethlehem out of a need to satisfy his own power-hungry appetite. His request to the wise men was for them return to him and divulge the place of the babe of Bethlehem so he could also go to worship Him (Matthew 2.8). Although these were his words, nothing could have been farther from the truth! He had no intention of worshipping the Christ; he only wanted to harm Him so as to save his own throne! What a sad contradiction of characteristics - The innocent one who was to become the Savior of the world, versus the wily and crazed egomaniac who ruled over others with fear and intimidation!

From that beginning volley of good versus evil, the battle waged continually. Satan’s temptation of our Lord in Matthew chapter 4 was one which pitted the Eternal Truth against the father of lies (John 8.44). However, the Lord’s triumph over the devil was not the end of the matter; it only signaled the beginning of the onslaught carried out by Satan’s countless minions. Trickery and entrapment awaited our Lord at every turn! What might have otherwise seemed to be the most innocent of questions frequently had false motives and debased purposes behind it. Behind the scenes the leaders of spiritual Israel used men of little minds and still smaller character to wage their battles against the Christ. Lawyers, doctors, rich men, poor men, liars, thieves, perjured men, and a seemingly endless stream of such characters came against Him! Never did He have a quiet moment in which the onslaught stopped. To top it all off, one of His very own, Judas Iscariot, betrayed the Innocent One into the hands of blood thirsty men who had absolutely no concern for truth! What a contrast of characters!

Jesus declared Himself to be “The way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14.6). To extend the significance of that statement He also declared that “…No man could come to the Father” except through Him (Jesus Christ). He was not a truth, some truth, or just any truth; He was THE truth. To love the truth is to love the Christ and vice versa! One can no more love Christ and not love truth than he can love colors without loving the rainbow! The two are integrally intertwined so as to be inseparable; the same is true with the person of Christ and the love for the truth!

Years ago, I used to hear men cry for Jesus apart from truth; they phrased it as the Man [Jesus] but not the plan [the Gospel]! What a travesty! Men today still verbally clamor for Jesus while rejecting His truth in actions. Such is not only wrong, it flies in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and contradicts everything for which He stands and for which He died!

Questions:

1. What did Herod really want when he asked the wise men to return and tell him where the Child was located? Why did he say he wanted the information?

2. What lies did the devil tell Jesus at His temptation? How did Jesus contradict his lies?

3. Who was frequently behind the men with ulterior motives who approached the Christ from time to time?

4. Why can we not have Jesus without (or apart from) the gospel (or have the man without the plan)?

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

A World of One