Truth is more about morals than knowledge

Even though Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32) truth is far more than knowing facts, or even believing something is true. Truth gives freedom only when it is known and lived out. 

Jesus words were questioned by those who heard them. They claimed to be free from any sort of slavery, assuming Jesus meant physical bondage, but Jesus said:

Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father. (John 8:34–38)

This is such a loaded answer. First truth: all who sin are slaves to sin. Because sin is defined as doing our own thing instead of obeying God (see Isaiah 53:6), sin is not mere immoral acts. It includes all of life that is apart from faith in the Lord and doing His will. 

Second truth: a slave need not remain a slave. By faith in Christ, sinners can become members of God’s family, sons and daughters. And those who believe live in the ‘house’ of God forever. 

Third truth: salvation through faith in Christ sets sinners free from the penalty and power of sin. Doing my own thing is no longer my task-master. I am able to put aside my ideas, weaknesses, even strengths, and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to direct all that I do. I’m free from cravings, indecision, human effort, and the driving force of ‘I want what I want when I want it’ so that I can love God. 

Fourth truth: no matter my heritage or the fact that I read the Bible, truth is about my attitude toward Jesus. I am not a Jew, yet I could know the words of God’s book. However, if those words go in one ear and out the other, it shows a heart in slavery. True freedom is being transformed in not only how I think but how I talk and live.

Fifth truth: involves listening to God and not the lies of Satan. The Bible says that those who are set free are aware of his devices. That means I recognize and am set free from the bondage of lies, even though that involves a choice to believe what God says and not listen to the Liar. 
Piper says that to love God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is to love the truth. I cannot separate God from truth. This is who He is and what defines Him. He is not like humans. He is the source of a truth-driven life.

Piper also says that to not love truth is eternally suicidal — based on this:

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9–12)

Indifference to the truth is a mark of spiritual death. It involves taking pleasure in sin, revealing that the alternative of truth is immorality and wickedness, not merely falsehood. Again, loving and believing the truth with my whole heart is a matter of eternal life rather mere knowledge.

PRAY: Jesus, the world seems filled with those who have abandoned truth (You) for the lies of Satan and the folly of sin. If I focus on this, heaviness threatens. But another reality drives away darkness and hopelessness, the reality that You are the way, the truth, and the life. And You have come into my life to set me free, from sin but also from doubt and all fear. I can still choose to do my own thing, but that cannot compare to the wonder of living in truth. Your grace is humbling and not at all deserved — yet fills my heart and life with great joy and thanksgiving.