The Absolute Truth

Pilate asked, “What is truth?”

Jesus said, “I am the truth.” He also said that if we know the truth the truth would set us free. Yet many of us are bound to lie if necessary.

We’ll withhold the whole truth if part of it serves our purposes. We’ll add to the truth. We’ll stretch it. Twist it. Bend it. Do anything but speak it—plain and simple. Pure and unadulterated. Unvarnished. Nothing but the truth? Not on our lives.

Self-preservation drove one politician to insist he didn’t inhale and he didn’t have sex with that woman. The same force drove a minister to claim he bought drugs, but didn’t use them, and paid for a massage from a man, but didn’t have sex with him.

Hard to believe? Yes. Harder to forgive? Absolutely. And we don’t quickly or easily forget either.

Because we live with the constraints of time, we tend to remember. How many of us will ever forget these names? Jimmy Swaggart. Jim Baker. Bill Clinton. Ted Haggard.

It doesn’t matter which side of the political fence we sit on or which side of the church aisle. The truth is we’re human. That’s not an excuse; it’s an explanation.

The good news is God knows that. The bad news is we can’t change it. But that leads us back to the good news. God can. He’s offered to. He made provision for such a transformation.

You only have to answer one question: Do you want to change?

If you do, tell the truth. I lied to myself for almost three decades. When I stopped lying, I not only took responsibility for my actions, I admitted who I was. I realized it wasn’t enough to say I was sorry for what I did wrong. I had to tell the whole truth. I sinned because I was a sinner.

Now, have things changed? Yes. And no. I don’t do most of the things that I used to do, but I still struggle with some old habits. Yes, I’m a better person. No, I’m not perfect. Yes, I could give in to temptation. No, by God’s grace I won’t be what I once was.

The truth of the matter for me—and you—is this. We’re weak, flawed. We’ll never measure up to God’s standard: absolute perfection. We’ll never be sinless. But we can sin less.

Whether we do or not isn’t the point. The fall of a high profile leader changes nothing. Like it or not, the truth remains. God never changes. He tells us the rules. We break them. He loves us anyway. And when we ask him, he forgives us.

Will he restore us? Sometimes. Will we forfeit everything? Sometimes. Will we lose what he gives? Never. And that’s the absolute truth.


Want to learn more? Visit http://praisechapelkingman.podblaze.com to hear a sermon by Senior Pastor Howard Pennington or any of our pastors or guest speakers.