I just want to thank our brother Billy for his kind words of welcome. He was saying to me in the little room at the side that he was looking forward to hearing me speak tonight. I told him he had better wait until it finished. But it is a joy to be with you this evening, and I do trust and pray that God will bless each and every one of us. Our reading this evening is taken from John's Gospel, chapter 18. And we're going to commence our reading at verse 28. John chapter 18, commencing to read at verse 28. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment, and it was early. And they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they may eat the Passover. Pilate then went out unto them and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor or an evildoer, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. 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, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, "'Art thou the king of the Jews?' Jesus answered him, "'Sayest thou this thing of thyself, "'or did others tell it thee of me?' Pilate answered, "'Am I a Jew? "'Thine own nation and the chief priests "'have delivered thee unto me. "'What hast thou done?' 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. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thy a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause come I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.' Pilate said unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and said unto them, I find no fault at all. But ye have a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover. Will ye therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber, ending at verse 40. Let's just still our hearts before the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do ask that you would be with us here this evening in Abbots Cross Congregational. We do pray for every head that is bowed, for every home that's represented. We pray that you would bless each and every one of us gathered here this evening. We thank you, Lord, for the reading of your word. We do indeed ask that it would be buried deep within each and every heart. We do pray for the gospel as it goes forth. We ask indeed, Lord, that it would speak to someone this evening, whether in this building or watching, that they may come and find true life in the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray these things in Jesus' precious name. I love watching movies. Unfortunately, most of the movies that I like to watch are in black and white. I sat my children down one day to watch Oh, see, it shows you that I'm getting old, Billy. I can't even remember the name of it. High Noon. And I love that movie. It's a real classic. But when my two children walked in, they didn't see any color on the TV, and they promptly turned on their heels and walked out again. But there was one modern movie that I watched that I really enjoyed. It was called A Few Good Men. And it starred Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. And there was a court scene in that movie where Nicholson's in the witness box and Cruise challenges him. Nicholson shouted at him, what is it you want from me? And Tom Cruise says, I want the truth. To which Nicholson replied, you can't handle the truth. You can't handle the truth. And that's the title of my message this evening. Because that's the very words that Pontius Pilate spoke to Jesus Christ. What is truth? What is truth? I can honestly say that if I asked each and every one of you, what is truth, I may get fifty different answers. But we're going to look upon that tonight as to what is truth. But in our reading this evening, we read the last recorded intimate personal conversation that Jesus Christ had before He went to the cross. and he was speaking to the Roman governor. Pilate found himself in a position that Pilate never wanted to be in. As far as Pilate was concerned, this was a religious matter between Jesus and the chief priests. He wanted nothing to do with it. And we read it there. where he says, I find no fault in him. Well, I'm sorry, but if you find no fault in a man, then you should let him go. But he didn't. Jesus, though, was about to use this conversation to explain to Pilate just exactly what the truth is. I love Pilate in many ways because he was an inquisitive man. He was a card because he did something that no man should do. He didn't take advice from his wife. When his wife told him, listen, husband, have you nothing to do with him? Because I've suffered many things this night in a dream because of him. Let him go. Pilate didn't listen to her. Pilate says to him, listen, are you the king of the Jews? Tell me, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus says to him, well, who told you that I was? Is this something that you've thought off yourself, or did someone else tell you? And Jesus knew fine rightly that it was the Jews that were proclaiming that Jesus was making himself out to be king. Because if you remember, they said to him, we have no king save Caesar. which is a real piece of hypocrisy because the Jews hated Caesar and every Roman soldier in the land. And then comes the question, what is truth? Honestly, friends, Pontius Pilate didn't want to know what the truth was. He didn't want to know. What he was actually saying was this, what is truth for you may not be truth for me. I'm led to believe that there are 222 verses in the Bible that contain the word truth. 222. 10% of them. are in John's gospel. 10% of the 222 verses containing the word truth are found in John's gospel. So let us get down to this question, what is truth? Well, first of all, we have to look at the perception of truth. Pontius Pilate had no perception of what truth was. at all. He had no perception of what truth was. And as far as the people of his day were concerned, the truth was unattainable. It was impossible to know what was the truth. And when I look around me at the world today, I see exactly the same thing. What used to be right 50 years ago is wrong today. What was right in my youth is not right today. I was brought up to believe that there was a man and a woman and that was it. And now when I listen to my children talking, I've no idea what they're going on about. Because there's not two genders, there's 50 genders. In fact, on one occasion I read there was 100. But this old book tells me that God created man and woman. So what is truth? Pilate reasoned with Jesus that there was no such a thing as the absolute truth. And that's a worrying state of affairs today, because in a recent study in the United States, it found that 67% of adults in the USA believe there is no such a thing as absolute truth. Two-thirds of the population. 56% of born-again Christians. Now listen, born-again Christians, Bible-believing Christians believe that truth is relative. It's relative. So what is true for me may not be true for you, and vice versa. 75% of professing Christians cannot accept the idea of absolute truth. 75%. Is there any wonder the world's in a mess it's in today? Society, when it has nothing to believe in, is happy to believe what you will. I don't believe what you say. I'll be all right. I'll be all right. The Bible says this, that Jesus Christ came to bear witness of the truth. In John chapter 16 and verse 13, we read these words. Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come." Dear friends, the spirit of truth did come. It came 2,000 years ago, and it set the world free. But what about the world spirit? The world spirit says this, In 1 Corinthians 2 and 14, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. For a man to see the truth, the Spirit of God must enter into his life. That's the important thing. For a person to know the truth, the Spirit of God must speak to him. The power of truth. Jesus told Pilate of this truth. He also told him that this truth has power. This truth has power to liberate. And I'm standing here this evening because the Spirit of God entered into my life when God saved me. And He changed me from the person that I was to the person that I am today. And the truth of God lives within me. And He can live within you if you ask Him into your heart. This Spirit of truth has the power to liberate us and to free us from the bondage of sin. It frees the captive. It opened blinded eyes. It heals the broken heart. And it fills a man's heart with love that was once filled with hate. Are you prepared to accept this truth this evening? Are you prepared to let Jesus Christ into your heart? Not only has the power to liberate, but it has the power to separate. John 17 and 17 tells us that Jesus prays to sanctify us through thy truth. If I were to ask you a question tonight as to where you stand in relation to God's offer of mercy, I wonder what the answer would be. Wonder what the answer could be. This has been a rough week for me. I just found out that an old colleague of mine passed away on Thursday morning. I worked with him 40 years ago on the police. And I only found out that he had been having issues with his mental health. And he's now gone. And he wasn't saved. Wasn't saved. I feel bad because that is phone number. And I kept telling myself I must ring him. Must phone Pete, must find out how he is. It's too late. He's gone. No idea if I could have done anything, but I won't get the opportunity now. And I ask you this evening, if there's someone on your mind that you've been longing to speak to about salvation, take the opportunity. Go home tonight and pick up that phone and ring them. and tell them that you need to talk to them about eternity. Because if you don't, you're going to end up like me. You're going to wish and wish and wish to yourself that you should have rang. You should have spoke to that person. You should have told them that if nobody else loves them, God loves them. We have family and friends that are in their sin, and they need to be told, and it's up to us to tell them. An old brother many years ago expressed a very truthful thought to me. He says, son, sin, sin will keep you from this book. And then he smiled, and he said, but this book will keep you from sin. By neglecting this book, we'll fall into sin. By reading this book, God will keep us from sin. So I ask you, tell everyone that you come in contact with about the love of God. Take every opportunity, because believe me, friends, time is running out. And God will be coming back very soon. I love this, it has the power to invigorate. In John chapter four, we read of the account of the woman at the well. And she came at midday, when the sun was at its peak, to draw water. Why did she come at midday? Well, the answer's simple, because she was a woman of ill repute. If she'd have come any earlier, the other women would have chased her. So she comes when the sun is at its highest, and she comes to draw water. And what does this Jewish man say to this Samaritan woman? Give me water to drink. Give me water to drink. And she looks at him, and she says to him, you're a Jew. You're a Jew. I'm a Samaritan. What are you doing talking to me? We have nothing to do with you. All Jesus did was ask her for a drink of water. He didn't want to lecture. And he says to her, where's your husband? Where's my husband? I don't have a husband. I don't have a husband. Jesus turns to her and says, you're right, you know, you don't. You've had five husbands. All I can say is she's a brave woman. You've had five husbands, and the one that you now have isn't your husband. And Jesus explains to her, if she believed in him, he would give her water whereby she would never thirst again. But the woman thought he was talking about a physical water, but he wasn't. He was talking about the spiritual water that flows within us. And when she heard this, she, remember she came for water? It says that she turned on her heels and she ran back into the town. I'm sure the water pots were still at the well. She goes round her neighbors, the very people who wouldn't bitter the time of day, come. Come hear a man that told me everything that ever I did. Imagine if one of your neighbors did that to you. Come on. Well, let me show you a man that taught me everything ever it did. And if you stay long enough, he'll tell you all about you. This woman was changed. She was totally changed because Christ had come into her heart. And all she wanted to do was to tell everyone about this Jew that she met. I remember the day that I got saved. I was 16 years old. Couldn't wait to tell the world. But you know what I've found as I've got older? I've become that slightly little bit more hesitant. That love and that power that felt me that night that I got saved is somehow being pushed slightly further and further down. I think after all these years I'd be as strong as a lion, shouting the truth from the mountaintops, but it's not what's happening. We do become slightly more hesitant. We do become slightly more worried. For whatever reason I do not know, But wouldn't it be great to go back to that first time experience again, we were filled with so much love for God and so much part of the Holy Spirit that we'd have run through a brick wall for him. The personality of the truth. The Bible says that the Scripture is truth. It is the inspired and fallible, inerrant Word of God. I believe that. I believe it from the very first word to the very last word. And people ask me, tell me, what is your favorite verse in all the Bible? And when I pass the question over to them, it's usually John 3 and 16 or Psalm 23 or Romans 8, whatever. And then I ask them, what do you think mine is? And nobody ever gets it. Nobody ever gets it. My favorite verse in all the Bible is Genesis 1 and 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And do you know why it's my favorite verse? Because if I can't believe in Genesis 1 and 1, there's no point in going any further in this book. Because if I can't accept Genesis 1 and 1, how am I ever supposed to accept John 3 and For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Dear friends, this is the Word of God. This is the living truth. There's nothing comes close to this book. It alone has the final authority for living. If the Bible is true, then it's the absolute truth. It is the absolute truth. If God did not make man in his own image, then man is free to do whatever he pleases. If God did not make man in his own image, then man is free to do just whatever he wishes. And that's what he's doing. That's what he's doing. He's doing what he pleases. There is a choice to be made tonight. If you're not saved in this meeting tonight, there is a choice to be made. Will you accept what this old book says? Will you believe that it is the absolute truth, that nothing comes anywhere near it? Because in every meeting there is a choice to make. You will either decide to follow Christ or you will decide not to. I worked with a young man on my days in the police, and I asked him one day, I says, Luke, you need to get saved. I says, this job of ours is a perilous job. None of us know if we walk out that door, get into that police car, we could be dead in 10 minutes. Are you ready? I said to him. Come on, he says, you're depressing me again. He says, don't talk to me about living and dying. He says, I'm 24 years old. I've all my life ahead of me. For which I had to remind him, I says, do you remember what happened last week? young customer down the country, 20 years old, blown up, dead, gone. We don't know what another day will bring, and I pleaded with him, turn to God. And his reply to me was, I'll be like the thief upon the cross. I'll come on my deathbed. And I looked at him, and I simply said, which thief? Which thief? Everybody talks about the thief that got saved. Nobody talks about the one that was lost. Dear friends, none of us know when our time on this earth is up. So I plead with you tonight to come, put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, because without Him, we have nothing. We have nothing. The Savior is the truth. John 16 and six says this. Sorry, John 14 and six. Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. When my children were smaller, I used to sing a little chorus to them. One door and only one, but yet the sides are two. I'm on the inside. What side are you? What side of that door are you on tonight? Are you on the inside or the outside? Pilate asked the question, what is truth? The answer is simple, it's the difference between being saved and being lost. If we are saved tonight, if we're born again, if we're followers of Jesus Christ, then we have the truth. And the Bible tells us that the truth will set us free. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are grateful this evening that you have allowed us once again to preach the gospel. We do pray, Lord, that you would bless this word to each and every one, not only in this building, but those watching. And we ask, Lord, that you would break down the hardness of people's hearts, that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ would shine in. We pray these things in our Savior's name. Amen. Okay we're just going to close by standing and singing what a friend we have in Jesus. ♪ The privilege to have you here ♪ ♪ Everything to love and care ♪ ♪ Oh, what peace we all demand ♪ ♪ Oh, what peace may you demand ♪ ♪ Long we've asked, it is unfailing ♪ He should never be disturbed. Take him to the Lord in prayer. Jesus knows how very we can take Him to the Lord in prayer. Every week and every day. are ready. Take it to the Lord in prayer. True like Francis, I forsake thee. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we do thank thee that you've been with us this evening, and we pray, Lord, that as we depart and go to our separate homes, that you would watch over us, that you would bless us and keep us until we meet again. In Jesus' precious name, amen. you