Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.
– John 18:37
What a statement that Jesus makes to Pilate as he’s about to be crucified. He’s having this conversation with Pilate about truth, about what is true. And Jesus looks at him and says, “Everyone who’s of the truth listens to my voice.” Why? Well, John 14, because he is the truth. Jesus is the truth. John 8. “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free,” and how important is this word, truth? Is this conversation about being of the truth and listening to Jesus? How important is that in a day where truth is questioned at every turn even denied? Truth is what you want it to be. Truth is what you believe it to be. But we all know at the most basic level that’s not true and we don’t want that to be true.
None of us wants to go to a bank today to withdraw money that we know we have in our account and have a bank teller say to us, “It may be true for you that you have that money in your account. But it’s not true for me.” No, we would say, “It’s true. I have this money in my bank account,” and we’re not going to want them to look back and have a subjective view of truth that says, well, they think differently. Then that’s what’s true for them. No way.
John 18:37 reminds us Jesus is the Author of truth.
So why do we throw truth out with the most important questions in life, specifically even here with Jesus? I think about his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. Muslims deny that Jesus died on the cross and deny that Jesus rose from the grave. And I’m not even saying right now which one someone might believe. But the reality is they can’t both be true. Either Jesus did die on the cross or he didn’t die on the cross. Either Jesus did rise from the grave or he didn’t rise from the grave.
That’s a question of truth and when you look at the teaching and the life of Jesus, you will find that what he says in John 18:37 is true, that everyone who is of the truth listens to his voice. He is God in the flesh. He is the Author of all truth. Jesus is the Definer of all truth and he has shown that he is the truth by living a perfect life with no sin, by dying on the cross for our sin, and then by rising from the grave and victory over sin and death. Jesus is God in the flesh, the Author and Definer of truth.
John 18:37 challenges us to live and share the truth of the gospel.
So let’s share this truth with other people today. This is not our opinion. This is true. It is true that Jesus died. It’s true that Jesus rose from the dead and it’s true that people’s lives for eternity hinge on hearing and believing in Jesus.
So, God, we pray that you would help us as your children to not just know the truth about Jesus and rejoice in the truth about Jesus and sing about the truth of Jesus and study the truth of Jesus, God, help us to spread the truth about Jesus. We know that it is true that he died on the cross for sinners, that he rose from the dead so that we can have eternal life.
Lord, we know it’s true that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life and we know that people must hear this gospel in order to believe it. We know that if they believe it, they will be saved from their sins. And we know the truth that if they don’t believe the gospel of Jesus, they will spend eternity in their sin and judgment of their sin. We know these things are true. So God help us to live in light of this truth. Help us to spread this truth to somebody around us today.
Help us to speak this truth with compassionate boldness and conviction, not sheepishly, but unashamedly, to say, “Here’s what’s true. Trust in Jesus as the Savior and Lord of your life,” and, God, we pray that people who’ve never heard this good news would be reached with it.
Prayer for the Nghari Tibetan People
We pray specifically today to the Nghari Tibetan people, for 63,000 of these Tibetan Buddhists who don’t know the truth about who you are. Jesus, they need to hear the truth about who you are.
So we pray, please help us as your church to spend our resources, our lives getting the gospel to them. Send laborers out from your church around the world for the spread of the gospel to the Nghari Tibetan people that they might be set free by the truth of Jesus. They might be saved for all of eternity by the truth of Jesus. We pray all of this in light of John 18:37 in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
