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Accepting Truth Will Cut Your Heart -- and Set You Free!



In  John 8:31-59, Jesus provoked some palpable tension in the midst of Jewish religious leaders when he shed light on some uncomfortable truths for them. In that passage, he is speaking to Jewish people – some who believed in him – and others who did not.  He tells them that if they are really his disciples then his word will define the aims of their lives. He immediately follows that powerful claim with the bold statement that living such a life with such aims will allow them to know his truth, and that his truth would set them free. Earlier, he had cast himself as the embodiment of truth (John 14:6). This rankled some of his listeners.  “What do you mean set us free? We’re children of Abraham, and we’ve never been slaves to anyone,” they countered.  Jesus then hit them hard by pointing out how they may be able to claim biological descent from faithful Abraham, but they were, in fact, slaves to sin and falsehood, and that their real father was the devil.  He continued to argue that they couldn’t see him as Messianic truth because they were the spiritual offspring of the father of lies and were blinded to the reality standing before them (John 8:44). These were difficult truths that they could not accept so they remained shackled to sin and lies – so much so that they took up stones to stone him. 


Now contrast that with Peter’s speech after the crucifixion of Jesus, and just after the Holy Spirit had filled the believers at Pentecost (Acts 2:22-41). Peter had cowered in fear in the presence of those leaders before the crucifixion. After Pentecost, he was emboldened by the Spirit to speak courageous truth to them.  He tells an unsaved Jewish crowd, which would have included some of the people who were directly involved in the persecution of Jesus, that they were responsible for murdering him.  There was no cowering on the part of Peter. He gives them a biblical history lesson on the prophecies regarding the Messiah, and then squarely tells them, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2:36).” He couldn’t have made it any plainer.  He accused his fellow Jews – the same Jews from whom he was cowering prior to the crucifixion – of murdering Jesus, while also declaring to them that God had made Jesus both Lord and Messiah! But they did not pick up stones to kill Peter. Instead, they heard the uncomfortable truth and it cut to the heart of some of them! Those who believed Peter, recognized the sacrifice of Christ, turned from their ways and were baptized (Acts 2:41). The truth, and their acceptance of him as a sacrificial Messiah, caused them to recognize their sin, then free them from it, while also putting them on a new path to life. Through Peter's Spirit emboldened obedience, some in the crowd were able to see in Jesus the truth of their sins, the way out of them and back to God, and a real life worth living (John 14:6).


How have you responded to the truth of who Jesus is, and what he did?

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