The Recognition of Truth
Greetings and good morning, brothers and sisters. This is Dr. James Perry continuing with our series where we seek to explore the deeper meanings of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Over the years, the heavenly Father has revealed many revelations of spiritual truth to me, and I want to share them with you. This morning we seek to understand how we recognize truth.
And now, sit back and listen to today's message.
The Recognition of Truth
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father by me." John, Chapter 14, Verse 6
When to go,
When to stay,
Only the divine
Will can say.
Brothers and sisters, in today’’s broadcast we share some additional insights into the recognition and choosing of the Father’’s will. More precisely, we want to be able to recognize and choose truth, for we know that truth is always the Father’’s will. The Father is truth. But how do we know what the truth is? We know that we have the Spirit of Truth surrounding our souls, and this Spirit of truth is extremely sensitive to truth. But what does that mean in reality? We know that truth is spiritually discerned and further that this truth is divine reality. It is the reality that the Father experiences, or the way that the Father views reality. In choosing the Father’’s will, we are choosing the way that he views reality. We are making the kinds of decision that his spirit would make in a given situation; we are choosing his will. Let’’s look at the illustration of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to help us better grasp this truth.
The moment had finally arrived when Jesus was confronted with events that would speedily lead to his death. He knew that Judas had betrayed him and that the authorities were coming to arrest him. All of this weighed heavily upon the human Jesus. He had dedicated his life to doing the Father’’s will. He prayed to his Father seeking to find a way out of this terrible dilemma. He wanted to know if there was any acceptable way that he could avoid this pending cruel death, if there was any way he could avoiding drinking this bitter cup. He acknowledged that his Father had to the power to deliver him because all things were possible with his Father. But his final attitude was that he wanted to do the Father’’s will, not his. Three times he sought assurance that it was the Father’’s will that he submit to this experience. Having sought the Father’’s way and not his own, Jesus thus gained the power needed to submit to his final choice. It was the Father’’s will that he submit to life as it flowed, even death on the cross, just as all other humans must submit to life on life’’s terms.
How did Jesus know that it was the Father’’s will that he submit to this cruel death? In order to answer that question, we must consider his mission. Jesus came into the world to bear witness to the Truth. He came to reveal his Father’’s loving character of mercy to mankind. He came to make us aware that we were all his sons and daughters. Jesus’’ pursuit of this mission finally brought him into conflict with the Jewish authorities and ultimately he was killed over it. The question has often been asked why Jesus didn’’t leave the country and go elsewhere since the religious authorities had rejected him and were determined to kill him. It was the recognition of and dedication to truth that compelled Jesus to remain steadfast to his course.
Jesus came in the flesh to demonstrate to all mankind the Father’’s character. He came to show how the Father would live his life in the flesh, from the beginning of spiritual human consciousness to the final spiritual consciousness in the flesh. He revealed the Father’’s character under all circumstances, setting the example for us. By living his life to the fullest and under all circumstances, he set a standard for all of us to strive to obtain. By refusing to run away, he set the example for us to remain on course when we are confronted with difficult choices. He knew that the flight from duty was the sacrifice of truth. We are to live lives based upon truth, and we are not to allow anything to take precedence over that. The spiritual mandate trumps the material consideration. The greater takes priority over the lesser.
In the experience of learning to do the Father’’s will perfectly, the human Jesus lived his life in its natural outworking, ever seeking the Father’’s will in ever crisis. This practice of seeking the Father’’s will in every moral situation, allowed the human Jesus to become like the Father. And when he had completed this spiritual growth, he had become just like the Father. He was the revelation of the spiritual Father. As we become more and more like the Father, we begin to view reality the way he views it. Thus the more we become like the Father, the more we become like Jesus, the more we know the truth——the Father’’s reality. This absolute Godlikeness enabled Jesus to grasp the absolute truth of the Father and to unerringly choose the Father’’s will.
So in our quest to learn to do the Father’’s will, we are learning to recognize truth. As we strive to do the Father’’s will, to become like him, our discernment of the truth of an experience increases. And when we learn to do the Father’’s will in perfection, our discernment of truth will become perfect. As spiritual children, we are in the process of becoming like the Father, and in the process of becoming like him, we learn to discern the truth more and more. But in our task of learning to discern truth, we have the Spirit of Truth, which is the spirit of Jesus, to assist us, and it ever points our souls towards truth. As we grow this spirit will lead and guide us into all truth, even as it teaches us how to do the Father’’s will. The Spirit of Truth shows us what set of conduct is acceptable to the Father; in doing so, it shows us the Father’’s will. The Son is the personal revelation of the Father.
As we are confronted with the moral decisions and the crises of living, as we seek to know the Father’’s will, we will make decisions that are consistent with his will. We will choose the truth of the situation. The truth of the situation is always the way the Father sees it. As we reflect in our minds trying to discern the Father’’s will, the Spirit of Truth will always respond, saying ““this is the way, walk in therein.”” Choose the truth. As we seek the Father’’s will, we make available to our minds that level of understanding and wisdom that is reflective of the Father’’s will;when we choose it, we have chosen the truth, and have chosen the Father’’s will. But we must seek to know the Father’’s will, otherwise, we will choose our will. We will choose evil.
This concludes today's message on understanding how we recognize truth. We hope you find something in this message to ponder and pray about as you go about your day.
Until next time, this is Dr. James Perry.
Your Kingdom Come; Your Will Be Done!
Inspirational Messages of Light
By Dr. James Perry
The Recognition of Truth
