Where Do You Find Truth?

April 29, 2018

Where Do You Find Truth?

Text: John 16:5-15

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

Where do you go to find truth? Yes, where do you go to find the certainty of truth? Well, I guess it depends. In other words, I suppose if you are trying to find the true spelling of a word, you will go to a dictionary. If you want to discover the true weight of an object, you will go to a scale. And to determine the true distance between two cities, you will most likely go to a map. But what if you want to find out the truth about things such as who you are, where you are going after death, and how you will get there? Then what? Where do you go to find the truth about these things? Indeed, where do you go to find the truth about who you are, where you are going after death, and how you will get there?

One of the ways to answer these important questions is to search your thoughts. Yes, clear your mind, and then you can search your thoughts for the truth regarding your purpose, identity, and life after death. But there is a bit of a problem with searching your thoughts. And the problem is this, how do you know the difference between truth and the lies coming from your mind? How do you know if something is true or if you are making it up as you go along in your mind? And what if your thoughts are telling you what you want to hear? Furthermore, how do you know if your thoughts are a dream or grounded in reality? It seems that our own thoughts are limited at best.

Well, if you cannot trust your thoughts to know truth, maybe you can trust your feelings. But how can you understand your feelings? It has been said before that you can understand your feelings by paying special attention to your stomach, heart, throat, head, arms, and legs. They say that as you ponder questions of truth, you need to be aware of the feelings of pain or pleasure in your various parts of your body. That is right; as you try to discover truth regarding your purpose, identity, and life after death, you need to see if you feel anxiety, stress, anger, or irritation, for if you do, then what you are pondering is most certainly false. However, if you feel happiness, peace, love, joy, and delight, then what you are pondering must be true. Bad feelings indicate that something is false; good feelings indicate that something is true. But there is a bit of a problem with this too. And that problem is this, how do you know that your negative feelings are attached to what you are pondering and not attached to indigestion from the most recent hamburger and fries that you ate? How do you know that your happy feelings are tied to a standard of right, and not caused by the caffeine in that Diet Coke you just drank? Indeed, your feelings are not there to guide you to know truth. Contrary to what some well-intentioned psychologists say, your feelings are not here to guide you in understanding the truth and to guide you when you are stuck in lies. Feelings are not an accurate or consistent guide of truth.

So, if you cannot go to your thoughts and feelings to know the truth about who you are, where you are going after death, and how you will get there, where else shall you go?

A third option to find truth might be to not look within oneself but to look outward to what others are saying. You and I can say to ourselves,

“God would not let all the people of the world remain in error for a long time. Besides, there are so many pious and holy and wise people in the world, it would probably be best just to figure out what the ‘majority’ of the people are believing is true, and go with that.”

Dear friends, if you and I expect to find truth about our identity, purpose, and life after death from what the majority of the people believe and teach, we will also be severely mistaken. You see, truth does not depend on popular polling. Truth does not care what the popular crowd thinks. Truth is not a reed blowing in the wind of popular fads. Truth is not like a chameleon that changes colors according to the color of its surroundings. And so, you and I cannot base truth on what other people have determined and concluded, no matter how many people agree.

So, we are again back to our question, where do we go to find truth? Yes, where do we go to find the certainty of truth?

Dear friends, we cannot cling to our thoughts, for our thoughts are often short-lived and misinformed. And we cannot cling to our feelings, for feelings easily betray us. And our ears cannot cling to the lips and pens of people or groups, for that would be like the blind leading the blind. So what can we rely upon for knowing truth?

In our Gospel reading from the Apostle John, we hear Jesus saying that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all the truth. Yes, the Holy Spirit will guide you.

Now, this is one of the blessings of being a Christian. You and I do not have to wonder where truth is found. You do not have to try to discern the dreams of your minds, you do not have to try to dig around in the emotions of your hearts, and you do not have to chase after the changing opinions of crowds, but rather, the Holy Spirit guides you into the truth. Yes, like a guide who introduces a traveler to an unknown destination, the Holy Spirit guides Christians into all truth!

But we still have not answered exactly where this truth is found.

Baptized Saints, the Holy Spirit is not a fortune teller, and He does not point you to some theoretical version of truth held in the halls of academia. The Holy Spirit does not lead you on a wild goose chase so that you might find a supposed treasure of truth at the end of a rainbow. The Holy Spirit also does not guide you back to yourself – to your thoughts and feelings. No, this is not how the Holy Spirit guides. The Holy Spirit is not a skeptic. He does not proclaim doubt or mere opinions. Instead, the Holy Spirit guides us to Jesus and Jesus’ words. And as we hear from John’s Gospel, the fourteenth chapter, Jesus is the way, ‘the truth,’ and the life.

You and I must never forget that truth is not some ideology. Truth is not a thing hidden in our hearts or something buried deep in our subconscious mind. Instead, the truth regarding who you are, where you are going after death, and how you will get there, is connected to the person and work of Jesus. Truth is not an idea, but instead, truth is a person – Jesus Christ.

So, dear friends, whatever is not Christ is not the way, but error. Whatever is not Christ is not life but death. Whatever is not Christ is not truth, but untruth. And that is why the Holy Spirit guides you to Jesus. To be very precise, this is why the Holy Spirit guides you to Jesus’ Word and gives you Jesus’ Word.

And in Jesus’ Word – the Bible – you find and receive truth! This is why you and I must stick to the Scriptures. Truth is in the Lord’s Word; there you will be safe; there you will find reliableness and faithfulness – completely, purely, sufficiently, and constantly.[1]

The Holy Spirit guides us to the Word, for there in the Word of God, the Holy Spirit works to enlighten us and give us all truth.

So, if the masses of people around us cry out a different so-called truth than what is presented in Jesus’ Word, you and I shall not be troubled, for without the truth of Jesus we know that there is no such thing as certainty but only self-deception.

And when your feelings contradict the Word of God, in repentance and faith, you shall cry out, “Create in me a clean heart O God.”

And when your mind leads you into fanatical dreams, you shall make the sign of the cross remembering that you are captive to the Word of God and the Word of God alone.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, for He works to place Jesus before your eyes, ears, minds, and hearts so that you would know with certainty the work of Jesus – for you.

Blessed Saints, truth is never apart from the Word and Holy Spirit, but comes to you in the Word and Sacraments, so that you might know that you are the baptized – forgiven, cleansed, claimed unto Christ; destined to everlasting life with Christ, with resurrected bodies which will be free from sin.

Indeed, truth is here in the Word where the Holy Spirit works. Yes, truth is here in the Word for you.

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