The Hard Truth
5/24/22
C. Hayden
Jesus was such a wonderful teacher. He often spoke with gentleness and lovingkindness as He led His
disciples in the ways of God. He waxed eloquent at times, poetic in others. And at times, He would give
the hard truth in such a manner that you knew He meant exactly what He was saying. See Matthew
23:27 as He informs the Pharisees of their membership in the “White-washed Tombs” club. And if you
think Jesus only spoke hard truth to the religious leaders of His day, look at Matthew 23:37 as He
reminds all of the Jews in Jerusalem who rejected Him how He wanted to gather them to Himself, BUT,
they would not do it (thereby rejecting their Messiah). Hard truth.
Jesus spoke often of hard truths that are not easy hear.
Listen to just of few of the difficult sayings of Jesus:
“Why do you call me good. There is no one good but God alone” Matt. 19:17
“Love your enemies. Do good to those who despitefully use you” Matt. 5:43-44
“Whosoever, is angry with his brother without a cause is in danger of judgment…
whoever calls his brother “a fool’, will be in danger of hell fire” Matt. 5:22
“If any man come to me and not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children,
and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple” Luke 14:26
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. There are many more.
So what are we to make of these hard truths? Well, first, context is key. Jesus often gave hard sayings
for a reason. Following Him is not the same as signing up to be a member of the Kiwanis or Rotary club.
Believing in Jesus is not just giving mental assent to a great guy. It is recognizing that you are unable to
save yourself and making a life commitment to Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. In other
words, Jesus is to be first place in your heart. It is then that life change can begin so that as we are
saved by grace, we also reveal this salvation by evidence of our Christian faith resulting in consistent
obedience to Christ good works (Ephesians 2:8, James 2 18). More truth that can be hard to swallow yet
tastes good when received by the Spirit that dwells in us. Don’t reject the hard truths that we see in
God’s Word. Recognizing and applying the easy sayings along with the more difficult directions from
Scripture, leads to tremendous spiritual growth and much, much, much fruit.
Be blessed even more!
Pastor Chris
