Well, good morning, everyone. My name's Steve. I've met you before. I'll leave past here at St. Paul's.
And if you've just joined into amongst us right now, just checked in for the first time in 2026,
we are really beginning this year asking the question, is it still reasonable and desirable or good to be Christian in 2026?
Given that 45% of our neighbourhood declare that they are not religious people at all, they are secularists,
and that in our neighbourhood, we are, in fact, significantly lower than the state and national average on people who claim to be Christians.
So, you know, working on the assumption that we are the minority here, is it still reasonable to be Christian in 2026?
And that's kind of what we're doing. And our main focus as we do that is the bold claim of Jesus in John 14, 6,
to be the way, the truth and the life, exclusively the way to God, exclusively the truth for all of humanity and the life for all of humanity.
And so my focus today, as we unpack those three statements over three weeks, is the claim for Jesus to be the truth,
that is exclusive truth, authority of truth for all people, all times, all cultures that exist outside of the world in which we live.
So that's what we're looking at.
And that is, something is regarded as being true, being truthful, if it matches external facts and reality.
It corresponds with.
That is, a statement is true, a proposition is true when it matches reality.
Linked with the correspondence theory is the coherence theory, and that is, a statement or proposition is true if it fits logically and consistently with a whole system of other statements and propositions that fit with reality and facts.
So combined together, it corresponds with, and it's internally coherent, and therefore it's true.
In both cases, facts and reality are things which are external from us.
In a postmodern world, which we're being marinating in for many decades now, truth is viewed as being constructed.
It's constructed by beliefs, by language, by cultures, and therefore truth is not aligned to an independent reality which has authority over all people of all times.
So every individual group or culture can come up with its own version of truth.
We now, however, live in a time called the post-truth era.
And in 2016, Oxford Dictionary selected post-truth as its word of the year.
It defines post-truth as an adjective relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.
Post-truth.
So post-truth as a concept exploded.
It really began in 1992 with a judgment which was passed down by a Supreme Court judge in the US,
but has exploded in 2016 linked to the US presidential election that saw Donald Trump elected as the president of the US.
That is the concept of fake news.
And post-truth exploded 2,000% in the latter stages of 2016.
And I think you'd search in vain to find a more apt description of our age of expressive individualism
where all forms of universal truth, any claim to universal truth, to exclusive truth, like Jesus does here in John 14, is rejected.
The irony of that is to declare that there is no such thing as a universal truth is itself a claim to universal truth.
That's the irony of it.
It's a universal truth claim.
And expressive individualism suggests that truth lies, which is the post-truth era,
that truth lies within each individual.
And to find true liberty, true freedom as an individual,
you must discover that truth that is within you.
Within you.
And live it.
In all its forms, regardless of any other person's opinion.
Because personal liberty is the highest value,
then any truth that constrains my view of myself
is regarded as oppressive and therefore must be rejected.
In a post-truth world, answers to life's big questions no longer need to correspond to reality,
to fact at all.
They just simply need to cater to my desires and my perceptions of the world.
So what is it here that Jesus is saying?
What is he claiming when he claims to be the truth?
To answer that question, what we need to do is to step back
and have a really broad sweep of the Christian worldview, if you like.
The Bible begins by declaring that there was no reality except God at the very beginning.
And that in that sense, God is ultimate reality.
God stands outside of all things that are created.
He's beyond all things that exist.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and empty.
That is, before anything was made, anything could be measured,
before anything could be measured, there was God.
God was.
And then this God speaks.
He communicates.
And when he speaks, he creates physical reality.
He creates reality.
He creates the physical universe.
He creates history.
Crucially, in the Christian worldview, God does not interpret history.
He creates history.
And that statement, that view, is a massive hurdle for people in our world,
modern world today.
I spoke about this two weeks ago when we kicked off this season.
One of the interesting things is, with the remarkable growth in scientific discovery,
science itself is increasingly and powerfully pointing to a designer behind the world,
to a creator behind everything that exists.
In actual fact, it is more reasonable to be a person of faith, to believe in a God,
than it is to be a person to not believe in a God, based purely on scientific fact.
So if you want to trust science as the arbiter for you, as to what's true and what's reality,
then your science is pointing you to a creator.
And so the Christian worldview, quite reasonably, begins with a God who creates all things,
and therefore defines all things, because he is the one who is ultimate reality.
Reality is determined.
It is created, determined, and defined by God.
This Christian worldview also declares that the only way that we can know what is true,
what is reality and reasonable, the only way that we can know the way things actually are,
is if this God was to reveal it to us.
As Ash mentioned in his prayers just a moment ago, first of all, in the created order,
the created order points to a design in some way, but more specifically, in very specific revelation,
this created God speaks.
And so the Christian worldview, Psalm 119, 160, says this about God when he speaks.
All your words are true.
All your righteous laws are eternal.
They're true because they come from an eternal God, the ultimate reality.
When God speaks, because he's ultimate reality, he reveals things the way they actually are.
Regardless of whether we think it corresponds to the world as we see it,
he speaks truth because it is him revealing reality.
And so what truth is, which is linked to the philosophical view of correspondence,
but also the cohesion view, is that truth is when reality and the communication of that reality
are aligned to one another.
They make sense.
And the opposite of that is a lie.
Lies are when reality and when the communication of that reality don't correspond.
You know, like the fridge is open, the ice cream tub is empty on the floor,
and you've got three kids with ice cream all on their faces,
and you say, who ate the ice cream?
Don't know.
The dog did it.
You know, there's a...
The facts don't correspond to reality of what you're observing there in that moment.
The unique claim of Christianity is...
Because what that leaves you with is, well, how do we know then reality?
And the unique claim of Christianity is that the God who made reality known,
the one who has communicated, who created all things, has communicated that reality.
He has communicated the unknowable.
The claim of Christianity is that God did not just simply write a book,
like an instruction manual, like you would get with your car,
on how to, you know, best look after the design of the car.
It's not that he just gave us an instruction manual to tell us the way things actually are,
but that this God who created reality wrote himself into the storyline.
He put himself into the reality.
And that's what our world has just finished celebrating.
The world's biggest festival called Christmas.
That is what we celebrate.
And it's what the beginning of John's gospel,
just chapters earlier than what Mel read out to us,
actually confirms.
In the beginning was the Word.
That is, he existed before anything was made.
And the Word was with God.
And the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
And through him, that is through the Word,
all things were made.
Without him, nothing was made that has been made.
And then down in verse 14, you read something startling.
The Word, who is God, who's made all things,
became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us.
And we have seen.
In other words, we have seen, we have understood,
the facts are there, the reality is in front of us.
The glory, the glory of the God who has made all things.
Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And so the question is, well then, who is this one,
this Word who is God, who existed before creation,
who made everything and is full of grace and truth?
A couple of verses later, grace and truth
came through Jesus Christ.
So what John claims here at the very beginning
of his biography of Jesus,
which the rest of his biography explains
and defends and supports,
the claim here is that the Word that was in the beginning
became flesh and lived amongst us
so that we could see reality.
We could witness reality.
And we are told five things about this Word in those verses.
The Word is a person.
The Word is a divine person.
The Word is an eternal divine person.
The Word is the eternal divine person,
is the source of all things.
And this Word is Jesus Christ.
Now, John uses a word here that's very specific.
When he says, instead of just saying, look, Jesus,
he says the Word.
And the Word in the original Greek language,
which is what the New Testament is written in,
is the word logos.
And the word logos in the first century
had an enormous amount of meaning
in the Greco-Roman world.
An enormous.
It was a very loaded word.
Greek philosophers, when they looked at the world,
they saw balance, they saw harmony,
they saw design, they saw order,
they saw all of those things,
and they concluded that what they observed
from the reality and the facts of the world,
that there is order and there is a principle,
there's a design, there's a principle
that sits behind the world,
and they called that principle the logos,
the logic that sits behind the created order.
But for Greek philosophers,
the logos was an impersonal,
it was a divine, but it was impersonal structure
behind the natural order of the universe.
The logos was the purpose of the universe.
It was the reason, the logic behind all things
that make sense to all the individual parts.
And they concluded,
in order to live life well,
you must align yourself to the logos,
to that order, to that principle.
In the same way, you want your car
to not be void of warranty,
you want it to work well,
then you follow the instruction manual.
You don't put diesel in a petrol car,
for instance,
and you don't try to plug electricity
into a petrol car.
Those things are not going to go well for you.
That's the idea of the logos for them.
And if you did not align yourself
to the principle of the universe,
then life would go badly for you.
Either you would experience this sense of lack
of contentment in life,
at the very least,
or at the very worst,
you'll entirely destroy your life.
You see what John is saying here?
John comes along
with an earth-shattering category.
The logos is not a principle.
The logos is a person.
A person that you can know.
That is, what he's saying here
is that Jesus Christ is the designer.
He's the source of all life
and the one, therefore,
that we must align our lives to
in order to flourish well in life.
And that is the radical claim of Christianity.
Jesus is not just ultimate reality
as the one behind all things,
but that he comes into the reality
that he has created
to reveal the existence
of ultimate reality,
of truth.
That's why he claims to be the truth.
That's the Christian worldview.
Now,
there's a paradox here.
Paradox of truth and freedom.
You see,
because the modern Westerner,
ever since the,
particularly the postmodern age,
the modern Westerner
is repelled by such an exclusive claim.
And the reason is that,
the view is that any claim to exclusive truth
that is external from the individual
is regarded as oppression.
It is regarded as a constraint upon my freedom.
So,
in other words,
we must get rid of God
in order to enjoy life.
The British Humanist Society,
a couple of weeks ago,
I mentioned this.
British Humanist Society
put an advertisement
on the side of buses in London
a number of years ago now
where they said,
God doesn't exist,
so enjoy life.
You see,
there's two things there,
two statements
that are being made there.
Number one,
God doesn't exist.
That's a statement of belief.
But secondly,
that it is the existence of God,
the existence of ultimate reality,
that is putting a constraint
on your enjoyment of life.
And that is exact opposite
of what Jesus claims here.
Jesus makes that connection.
Absolutely right.
Truth and freedom go together.
But Jesus couldn't disagree with you more
than the British Humanist Society.
John 8, 31,
if you hold to my teaching,
you are really my disciples
and then you will know the truth
and the truth will set you free.
You see,
verse 22 there promises freedom.
But,
Jesus says in the verse,
it's only if you hold to his teaching,
then you will experience freedom.
To hold to his teaching here
is to embrace it,
to obey it,
to live it.
Much stronger than just simply agreeing with it.
Jesus says
that we can only be free,
truly free,
if we accept his constraints.
That's the paradox of freedom.
In his book,
Two Concepts of Liberty,
philosopher Isaiah Berlin
distinguishes between negative liberty
and positive liberty.
Negative liberty describes personal freedom
as from all constraints,
all external constraint,
and anything that's an outside interference.
That is negative freedom.
In other words,
negative freedom
is the absence
of all obstacles,
the absence of all constraints
to live any way
I see fit
for my personal fulfillment.
That's,
in its ultimate form,
is expressive individualism.
Positive liberty
means freedom
to do,
not freedom from,
it's freedom to do.
It's the freedom
to make choices,
to make the right choices
for,
not just myself,
but for a common good,
for the advancement of others.
Because as others advance,
so do I.
Negative freedom
basically rules out
personal relationships
as central to my flourishing.
Positive freedom
says personal relationships
are essential to my flourishing.
That's the difference.
And so therefore,
for any sort of liberty,
what Isaiah says here
is that you need
to take on certain constraints
in order to be truly free.
For example,
I'm a diabetic.
I've got this
insulin pump
attached to me
all the time.
It's not a pager.
Those things are gone.
And sometimes I tell kids
it's my battery charger
to keep my heart going.
But, you know,
that just confuses them.
I'm a diabetic.
What if I chose
to exercise my freedom
by accepting no constraints
on my diet whatsoever?
No, you know,
like expressive individualism.
I'm going to eat
whatever I want.
I'm going to, you know,
chocolate cake
and Tim Tams
and rice.
Rice is evil, by the way.
Rice and burgers
and Coke.
You know,
I can do whatever I want.
I'm free.
However,
if I did that
as a diabetic,
it won't be long
before my body
will put constraints
on me.
I might not be free
to eat.
Sorry,
I might be free
to eat whatever I want
but I won't be free
to see for very long.
I won't be free
to run.
I won't be free
to walk.
I won't be free
to have both limbs
or fingers
or toes.
I won't be free
to live
before much longer.
Also,
think about,
forget about that.
What if
you've got
two passions
in life
and you want
to be free
to pursue
both passions
and what if
those passions
contradict one another?
What if
I want to eat
those foods
on one hand
but on the other hand
another passion
is,
one of my great passions
in life
might be chocolate cake
but what if
the other passion
in my life
is to run
half marathons?
What if
I want both
of those things?
They are both
deeply embedded values.
The only option
for me
is to constrain
one freedom
in order to pursue
the other freedom.
I can't have both.
You see,
true freedom
is not the absence
of constraints
in life,
it is choosing
the liberating
constraints
in life.
It's the strategic
loss
of some constraints,
sorry,
of some freedoms
in order to gain
the more
liberating
freedoms.
The constraint
of relational
fatality
grows
into the freedom
of intimacy
and companionship
and love.
but
how do we
make those
right choices?
And that's
the point
Jesus is making
here in John 8
because what he's
saying here is
there is a barrier.
There's a barrier
to us making
those right choices
about what
are the things
that I should
pursue
that will
result in
greater and
greater freedom.
amazing
what Jesus
says here
is again
the exact
opposite
of our
post-truth
world.
The barriers
that exist
for our liberty
are not
external barriers
although I
acknowledge that
there are
external barriers
in our world
that we ought
to be working
against for
the liberty
of all people.
but for all
people
the external
barriers are not
laws,
institutions
or exclusive
claims to
truth
it's an
internal
barrier.
There's an
internal
barrier
that gets
in the way
of our
freedom
and we
don't know
it.
in verses
33 and
34
the people
Jesus
speaking to
push back
on him
suggesting
that they're
not free
and they
say we
have
a
hand
of
standards
and we
have
been
slaves
to
anyone
how can
you say
that we
shall be
free
Jesus
replied
truly I
tell you
everyone
who sins
is a
slave to
sin
so Jesus
says
everyone's
biggest
problem
is that
we are
slaves
that's
why he
uses the
word
everyone
they say
here we
are
Abraham's
descendants
we have
not been
slaves of
anyone
now these
are Jewish
people that
he's speaking
to here
right
and they
knew
that he
wasn't
talking
about
external
constraints
they knew
Jesus wasn't
talking about
external
constraints
they knew
that he
was talking
about
inner
freedom
the reason
they knew
that
is because
you just
look around
you got
the
occupying
Romans
right
there
they're
all
there
what
they
were
blamed
to
is an
inner
slavery
an
inner
slavery
to
wrong
decisions
wrong
choices
you see
these people
thought they
were right
with God
and that
they were
in fact
true to
themselves
but inwardly
they were
slaves to
sin
that's why
Jesus
includes
us
in verse
34
with the
words
everyone
he's
saying
what
Jesus
is
saying
is
that
sin
is a
power
in our
hearts
and over
our lives
that
makes
us
that
results
in us
doing
bad
making
bad
choices
and doing
bad
things
sin
sets
us
up
against
not
just
God
but
also
against
other
people
every
person
is
enslaved
to
sin
but
every
person
is
blinded
to
the
deepest
reality
of
that
sin
in
our
life
our
deepest
desire
in the
heart
is what
Martin
Luther
called
I
just
couldn't
remember
the
Latin
phrase
it would
just
sound
impressive
I
could
remember
it
but
anyway
it's
curved
in
on
itself
that's
the
English
version
of
it
curved
in
on
itself
every
single
human
sin
means
expressive
individualism
is at
the deepest
sense
of my
life
and
most
part
we go
about
our
daily
lives
thinking
that we
are
free
but
we
are
not
we're
enslaved
to
ourselves
enslaved
to
sin
and
the
Bible
tells
us
that
the
wages
of
sin
is
death
and
unless
that
wage
is
paid
we
are
not
free
in
the
same
way
you
might
have
the
freedom
of
opening
up
the
own
door
to
your
home
but
until
it
is
entirely
yours
you're
enslaved
to
the
mortgage
even
though
you
feel
free
in
your
own
home
that
freedom
happens
until
the
bank
comes
in
and
takes
over
the
mortgage
in
other
words
all of
us
have
got
a
debt
and
we're
enslaved
to
that
debt
now
Jesus
doesn't
unpack
here
what
sin
is
but
the
rest
of
the
Bible
does
sin
is
resisting
our
creator
deep
inside
the
human
heart
is
an
impulse
that
resists
anyone
telling
us
how to
live
our
lives
and
the
ultimate
trigger
for
that
impulse
is
God
himself
Romans
1
puts
us
put
our
resisting
in
these
terms
and
it's
in
the
terms
of
rejecting
truth
the
wrath
of
God
is
being
revealed
from
heaven
against
all
the
godliness
and
wickedness
of
people
who
suppress
the
truth
by
their
wickedness
since
what
may be
known
about
God
is
plain
to
them
because
God
has
made
it
plain
to
them
for
since
the
creation
of
world
God's
invisible
qualities
his
eternal
!
And so
the
question
that we
are left
with
here
if
that's
the
problem
if
my
deepest
issue
is
sin
who
is
going
to
set
me
free?
Verses
35
and 36
in
John 8
give us
the
source
of
true
freedom
now
a
slave
has
no
permanent
place
in
the
family
but
a
son
belongs
to
it
forever
so
if
the
son
sets
you
free
you'll
be
free
indeed
the
image
here
that
Jesus
uses
is
that
a
servant
might
get
to
imagine
a
servant
in a
rich
family
they're
the
butler
or
something
like
that
they
might
get
to
live
in
the
mansion
they
might
get
their
little
section
in
the
mansion
they
might
in
fact
get
to
drive
around
in
the
family's
limousine
they
might
even
get
to
accompany
them
on
overseas
trips
in
the
private
jet
they
might
even
have
a
great
relationship
with
them
over
many
years
but
their
relationship
is a
relationship
with
the
boss
purely
that
it's
based
on
good
works
it's
based
on
the
fact
that
they
perform
if
you
do
your
job
you
obey
the
rules
you
could
exist
in
that
environment
and have
all the
the
benefits
of that
environment
and if
you
don't
you're
out
you
don't
get
to do
the
private jet
limousine
in the
mansion
anymore
but
Jesus
says
it's
an
entirely
different
relationship
with the
children
of the
owner
one
relationship
is based
on
good
works
the
other
relationship
is based
on
unconditional
love
the
son
the
daughter
of a
wealthy
person
may
disappoint
their
parents
but
they're
not
always
kicked
out
only
unconditional
love
sets us
free
the
only
way
that
sin
in
our
life
will
be
dealt
with
is
if
Jesus
the
son
is
the
one
who
sets
us
free
the
only
one
who
can
change
us
from
being
slaves
to
sin
to
children
of
God
is
Jesus
that's
what
John
looked
at
last
week
in
that
he
is
the
way
sorry
Nick
looked
at
last
week
he
is
the
way
they're
just
your
twins
!
Can we
see how
Jesus
does
that
right
at the
very
end
of
John
8
58
very
truly
I
tell
you
Jesus
answered
before
Abraham
was
born
I
am
this
is
this
is
where
we
get
a
glimpse
of
how
he
does
it
how
he
sets
us
free
now
the
way
you
might
expect
Jesus
to
say
that
is
something
like
before
Abraham
was
born
I
was
but
he
says
before
Abraham
born
I
am
he
uses
the
word
I
am
very
specifically
because
it
is
the
personal
declaration
from
the
Old
Testament
in
Exodus
3
when
God
reveals
himself
to
Moses
and
is claiming to be the truth.
He's claiming to be God himself.
And so the people around him immediately pick up stones
in order to stone Jesus' death for blasphemy.
Outrageous claim.
Jesus claims to be the all-powerful, all-present, unrestricted,
totally free God, the ultimate reality,
the revelation of God himself right here.
And so they pick up stones to kill him for blasphemy.
And in that moment, we get a foreshadowing of how it is
that Jesus actually sets us free from our sin.
They will kill him, but it will be Jesus' plan
in order to make us children of God, to set us free from sin.
You see, Jesus Christ, God the Son,
gives up his ultimate and infinite freedom
as ultimate reality, comes into his creation,
takes on all the constraints of being in a human body,
being born of a woman.
He descends further still in humility
by eventually surrendering himself to a Roman cross.
He gave power to those Romans in the first place.
His liberty is taken away by nails through his wrists
and in his feet, nailed to a cross.
And then the author of life itself surrenders himself to death
and faces the constraints of a tomb
so that we, the slaves deserving of death,
could have the freedom of being children of God forever.
He was bound to a cross and death
so that we could be free and live.
As he died for us, he was plunged into the unimaginable darkness
of sin and despair and rejection and loneliness
so that we could see he is the light of life
and in seeing, have life and have freedom and have acceptance.
From the manger to the cross,
Jesus Christ gives up his freedom consistently
to set us free
from the freedom that we cannot get,
set us free from ourselves,
the deep slavery in the human heart of sin,
the slavery because we have rejected the one true God
and choose to live life our way.
And we see, once we see what he has done for us,
it transforms us from being slaves to a child of God.
Jesus is truth that causes the blind to see,
for darkness to be extinguished, death to be defeated,
eternal life granted and freedom experienced.
It is remarkable, earlier Ash on the screen
told us about Joni Erickson.
Joni says now, having been a quadriplegic
for virtually seven decades, I think,
says she would again, willingly,
live again another entire life
constrained to a wheelchair with Jesus
rather than having the full function of her legs
and her arms without him.
She feels freer in a wheelchair with Jesus
than life without him
because of the freedom and the peace inside.
So let me just really quickly wrap up how we embrace.
Verse 31, Jesus says,
his true followers are those who hold to his teaching.
The word hold there, as I mentioned,
means to abide in, to align your life with.
In other words, freedom comes
by the constraints of obedience,
living by Jesus, his teaching.
It means accepting God's word
and all that it reveals as supremely true for you in life.
It has the final authority for you in life.
And to take that truth into your life
and live into how God has designed you.
So even if it conflicts with your worldview,
at several points,
what we see is that Jesus, as the truth,
confirms the historic Christian scriptures,
the Bible as God revealing reality.
He confirms the Bible as true,
as reflecting ultimate reality,
the revealing the way things actually are.
And therefore the Bible is authoritative
over all of life for all people
and all times.
And it's also by his Holy Spirit,
as John tells us a little bit later
in his biography,
by his Holy Spirit,
we are led into truth.
It's where we meet God.
It's where we meet him personally.
It's where we engage with God.
It is not a dead letter book.
I mean, it's so intimate.
2 Timothy 3 talks about like this,
all scripture is God breathed.
God's speaking to us.
And he's useful for teaching,
correcting,
rebuking,
training in righteousness.
In other words,
shaping our lives,
conforming it to Jesus.
In the Bible,
God gives us knowledge of himself,
his will,
his work in his world,
wisdom,
meaning,
purpose,
to navigate all the complexities of life.
His word is a liberating constraint.
And when we hold to it
and align our lives to it repeatedly
to do what it says,
we will increasingly grow in freedom.
Freer,
like a Johnny Anderson.
Free from sin,
free from guilt,
free from shame,
free from condemnation,
free from enslaving emotions and desires,
free from what people think of us,
free from needing to prove ourselves,
free from fear,
free from loneliness,
free from the fear of failure,
free from the fear of sickness,
from the fear of insecurity,
free from vulnerability,
and free from the commitment to other people,
free from the fear of death itself,
and free to love,
to sacrifice,
to be generous,
to celebrate the other people's wins,
free to serve others,
free to live within our design,
free to forgive,
and therefore set free to flourish.
When Jesus sets us free,
we are free indeed.
But to grow into that freedom
will mean constraints.
It might mean, for instance,
constraining your,
picking up your Bible
before you pick up your phone
in the morning, for instance.
Constraints on your time.
It will result in things like that.
Constraining on,
fighting back fire with fire.
There are all sorts of things.
It will put constraints on you.
But what you'll discover over time
is that when the Son sets you free,
you will be free indeed.