"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ⁷You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."—Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Loving the Word of God means that we’ve taken a particular position on truth. First, we believe it exists. And second, it comes from somewhere (better, Someone) outside of ourselves. And this leads to a profound recognition of Jesus’ identity.
John Piper explains it this way:
The way the Bible uses the word truth, and the way we should use it, is to refer to a faithful representation of reality. If it is a true statement or proposition, that statement faithfully represents reality. If it’s a story, the story faithfully represents reality. If it’s a true sunset, the sunset faithfully declares reality—the glory of God. The place where the reality and the representation come together most profoundly is in Jesus Christ himself. Jesus said,
“I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)
“My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going.” (John 8:14)
“My judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me.” (John 8:16)
“The one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.” (John 7:18)
So Jesus spoke the truth. His words were truth.
But he said something more profound in John 14:6. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). I am the truth. The most ultimate reason he could say this that he is God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). He so fully embodies the faithful representation of God that he is God. Therefore, he is ultimate reality, and he represents ultimate reality as the eternal Word, and the words that he himself speaks are truth—they faithfully represent what is real. There is no falsehood in them.
So Jesus enters the world as the ultimate divine reality and as the perfect spokesman for this reality. This is God’s final and decisive way of saying to us that truth is not impossible to reach. It has come to us. He is not waiting for us to find it. Truth is pursuing us. “I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). Since he is God, and God’s Word, he speaks God’s words.
Read or watch the whole sermon, The Sum of Your Word Is Truth.