Life here and now is the illusion, Jesus is the reality.

A man filled with confusion and power of authority asked Jesus, 'What is truth?'

But he didn't listen for an answer.

Can it be like most skeptics, when you speak the word of God, when you reveal the miraculous love of Jesus to them and they are still blinded by the worldliness they choose, and they say 'What is truth?' as if there is no such thing, or rather that there are different truths for all.

Your truth might not be my truth so who’s to say what truth really is. You've heard it, haven't you? People saying everyone believes in their own way and that's all that matters as long as they're good. I've said it before. I still believe that God alone knows the hearts and will judge each of us based on the opportunities we've had to know Him and live in Him.

There is no escaping judgment. Judgment will not pass over a single person. There is no place to hide from it, no place to run to. Even the dead are judged.

Rev. {20:12} And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. {20:13} And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. {20:14} And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. {20:15} And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

**
'They were judged every man according to their works.' How is that, if we are saved by grace and not works, not of ourselves, how can our works be our judgment? I'll tell you how, we are saved by grace and sanctified by the truth, Jesus said so.

By the grace and mercy of Jesus we are forgiven and saved, and our lives from that moment on should be lives lived in truth and the truth is Jesus. As Jesus proclaimed during His life here on earth, and as God proclaimed through Him from the beginning, before the earth was even formed, we are to live. The two great commandments that should govern ALL we do are these- Love God, Love Man. If our lives are not being lived as Jesus taught, if they are not being lived in Him, trusting in Him to sanctify us, if we are not giving our works over to Him to guide us, then our works, everything we do after we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our redeemer, is done in vain.

No!

I'm not saying to be good and you'll be saved.

I'm not even saying you're damned if you fall away.

I'm saying as a natural outpouring of God in your life you become more and more like Jesus and as a natural recourse your works are wrought more and more in Him.

I'm saying if you fall away you can still ask for forgiveness and seek to follow Jesus again and again, you're only damned if you fall away and stay fallen down without seeking forgiveness.

'What is truth?' It's not some abstract mystery meant as a riddle for people to try and solve. It's not subject to many interpretations. It's not one thing for you and another for me.

The truth is Jesus, our Savior, our Lord, the Holy Son of our Father, the One and Only True God.

Who was the man of authority that asked Jesus what was the truth and then didn't wait for an answer? Read on...

John
{18:31} Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:
{18:32} That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.
{18:33} Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
{18:34} Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?
{18:35} Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?
{18:36} Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
{18:37} Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
{18:38} Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
{18:39} But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the Kingof the Jews?
{18:40} Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
{19:1} Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
{19:2} And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
{19:3} And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
{19:4} Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
{19:5} Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!
{19:6} When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
{19:7} The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
{19:8} When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
{19:9} And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
{19:10} Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
{19:11} Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
{19:12} And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
{19:13} When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
{19:14} And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
{19:15} But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
{19:16} Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
{19:17} And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
{19:18} Where they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
{19:19} And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
{19:20} This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
{19:21} Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
{19:22} Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

**
A man sympathetic to Jesus, a man who wanted to free Him without causing an upset, a man who was convicted and yet driven by forces of government, caught up in a life knowing not the truth, he asked the question what is truth, but didn't want the answer.

We need to ask what is the truth and really want the answer. We need to spread the truth far and wide. We need to cling to the truth in Jesus because there is no other truth, no matter what the deceivers would have us to believe. Many will try to sway you from the truth, it'll be a daily battle with a daily choice made. Will we stand by the truth, will we holdfast to the truth, to life, to real life. This world isn't real life, it's merely a battleground covered in illusions of life. Jesus is life, He is the way and the truth and He tells us this is not our world, the world to come is for those who believe and trust and love Him.

People would have us believe Jesus is the illusion, but life here and now is the illusion, Jesus is the reality.

By His mercy and Grace, In Him.

Amen.

“For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”- 1 Peter 1:24-25