The old television show, “Dragnet” had the lead actor saying many times, “just the facts, just the facts”. Jury trials are conducted daily in our society as individuals try to reach the truth. In the spiritual realm men are saved by obeying the truth (I Peter 1:22). If there is truth then one must accept the fact that there are facts involved to make up that truth.
Jesus worked on allaying the fears of His apostles. They wanted to know where He was going that they could not go with Him. He explained that He was the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). He ended that first by saying that no on e came t o the Father but by Him. One could not argue that they can get to the Father by ignoring the truth that is Jesus the Christ. Jesus said of those who try to come up some other way are “thieves and robbers” (John 10:1). The consistent problems among the Jews of Jesus’ day were their efforts to establish their own righteousness (Romans 10:3).
This created a constant problem because they refused to accept the facts that the life of Jesus gave to them in no uncertain terms. Peter said that they crucified Jesus through their ignorance as also did their rulers (Acts 3:17). If we say someone is ignorant of a given truth in some other field, say like mathematics, we argue they are ignorant of the facts. In the spiritual realm the same is true. When the Jews went about to establish their own righteousness they came face to face with Jesus who was the fulfillment of prophecy (Revelation 19:10). Consider the early moments of Christ on the earth as a man.
When the wise men came from the east nearly two years after the birth of Jesus, they wanted to know of Herod where the King was. Herod calls a private meeting with chief priests and scribes and asked them, where was the Messiah to be born (Matthew 2:4). Their answer was from Micah 5:2, that the King of the Jews was to be born in Bethlehem of Judah (Matthew 2:6). Here was a fact that they all accepted. It was a prophecy whose only fulfillment was the city of Bethlehem in Judah. Years later they faced a prophet who claimed to be the Messiah. In their ignorance they chose to not accept the fact that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.
Part of the audience in Acts 2 when they were given the truth about Jesus being both Lord and Christ, they wanted to know what to do (Acts 2:36,37). What were the facts which the apostles gave them? They presented statements from Joel and David. Those facts matched up perfectly with the life of Jesus who had been killed some 50 days earlier. When they were told to repent and be baptized to get rid of their sins, they obeyed. About three thousand souls came to Jesus on that day by being baptized to remit their sins on His authority.
Jesus gave the parable of the sower as recorded in Luke 8. The heart or soil that received, kept and brought forth fruit was the one that was “honest and good” (Luke 8:15). If a person has an honest and good heart you can reason with them. Otherwise it is a waste of time. In the city of Thessalonica Paul went into the synagogue to teach. Luke tells us that Paul “reasoned” with them (Acts 17:2). When Paul came to Corinth, he reasoned in the synagogue (Acts 18:4). He enjoyed some success as he was able to teach and persuade Jews and Greeks. How was he able to persuade them? He gave the facts about Jesus. I know that because when he came into Corinth he was determined to not know anything, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified (I Corinthians 2:2) Look for a moment at the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The Pharisees were “keepers of the law” with the addition of the tradition of the elders. They elevated the tradition of the elders to a place of equal if not superior position to the law of Moses. It gave them power over people as they would explain what the law meant. For the most part they refused to reason with Jesus. The case of the woman in John 8 caught in adultery is an example of their mindset. The Sadducees on the other hand completely rejected law of any kind. The Pharisees could be reasoned with while the Sadducees could not.
When we strive to teach people make a determination. May this person be reasoned with? If not you are wasting your time. God said in the long ago, come, let us reason together (Isaiah 1:18)