Faithful and True ~ 20160228 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
02/28 Faithful and True; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20160228_faithful-true.mp3
What is God like? What can be known about God? What does he tell
us that he is like? We want to know God, to enjoy God, to delight ourselves in his presence, to experience him as he really is, to savor him. Jesus told us
John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Suppression of Truth
Jesus tells us that eternal life consists in knowing God. But not just any idea of God will do. Eternal life consists in knowing the only true God. We must be careful. There is a grave danger that we would formulate an idea of God that does not correspond to the reality of who he is, and we would be found guilty of idolatry. Romans chapter 1 says
Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
We as fallen mankind have an inclination to suppress the truth about God. Although we know true things about God, we do not act consistent with that knowledge. We do not honor him as God or give him thanks. We tend to exchange the glory of the immortal God for images of created things. We have a tendency to exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. This tendency in us is unrighteous, ungodly, and deserves God's wrath. We must be alert to this tendency in ourselves, and be ware of taking the things God has revealed to us about himself and suppressing those things by our unrighteousness.
We want to enjoy God by experiencing him as he truly is. We do not want to be guilty of suppressing the truth about him or exchanging that truth for a counterfeit. One of the things God says about himself is that he is true. He is the only true God. What does it mean when the Bible says that God is true?
Full of Truth
Turn with me to the beginning of John's gospel.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 ( John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
We see in this passage that life comes by the light shining in the darkness. We see that the Word was the true light shining in the darkness, and that the Word became flesh and lived among us to show us the glory of the Father. We see that the Word, the only Son from the Father was full of grace and truth. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jesus has made the invisible God known.
This passage in John directly connects back to the passage in Exodus that we have been studying. Keep your thumb in John 1 and turn back with me to Exodus 33. In Exodus 32, the people had become impatient with Moses' delay on the mountain, and had made an image of God in the form of a bull-idol and worshiped and sacrificed to it. God threatens to wipe out all the people and start over with Moses, but Moses intercedes for the people and God allows them to live. In chapter 33, God is threatening that he will keep his promises and send Israel in to the promised land, but that he will not go with them because they are persistently rebellious and he would destroy them.
Exodus 33:12 Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” 17 And the LORD said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
Moses desires to know God, to know his ways, and he insists that the presence of God go with them. When God answers favorably, Moses requests to see the glory of God. God will reveal his character, his goodness, to Moses, but no one can see the face of God and live. John tells us that the law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God who is at the Father's side, Jesus has made his Father known. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, full of grace and truth. In Exodus 34, The Lord proclaims his name:
Exodus 34:6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness
The Lord is abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Jesus, the only Son from the Father is full of grace and truth. God is abundant in steadfast love, full of grace. God is abundant in faithfulness, full of truth. God reveals his full glory, the truth of who he is, in Jesus.
Light and Truth
This concept of truth or faithfulness in John's gospel is coupled with light shining in the darkness. In the dark it is difficult to distinguish what is real from that which is a counterfeit. But in the full light the true character is seen for what it is.
In Jeremiah 10 the prophet sheds light on the people's idolatry. He contrasts their idols with the one true God. Their idols are vanity, they cannot move, cannot speak, cannot walk, cannot do evil, cannot do good, they are stupid, foolish, false, worthless, a delusion;
Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. 11 Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
The Lord is the true God. He is incomparable in power, wisdom, understanding, his voice forms and brings about all things. The Lord is the true God in contrast to false gods who threaten harm and promise help but are impotent to do either. The Lord our God is true, he is no counterfeit; he is real, he is living, he had no beginning and will have no end.
Correspondence Between Word and Being
James warns against the deception of counterfeits.
James 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
God is free from inconsistency or forgery. He is the Father of lights. He is the real thing, and the source of all that is true and genuine.
James 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. ...18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. ...22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Do not be deceived and do not deceive yourselves. God is authentic. He birthed us by the word of truth. If we hear the word but do not do it, we are not true. We lie to ourselves. We prove not to be genuine. Truth is when the word and the deed are one. Falsehood is when the word does not match the reality. We also see this theme in 1 John.
1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 2:4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Truth is when our claims perfectly correspond to reality. We had a friend who got a job as a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman. As a friend, we allowed him to come to our house and practice his sales pitch on us. He told us how the unit that he was selling far surpassed every other vacuum in sucking power. To demonstrate this, he had us turn on our vacuum cleaner (which was a shop-vac) and he stuck his credit card over the end of our hose. Then he proceeded to turn on his vacuum and attempt to suck his card away from our vacuum with his vacuum to demonstrate how much more powerful it was. He made several attempts, but completely failed. He was a bit embarrassed. His vacuum sucked. But our shop-vac sucked more powerfully. He was embarrassed because his words didn't match the actual performance. He spoke bigger than the reality. His claims were demonstrated to be false. (And by the way, my friend didn't remain in door-to-door sales for long).
God is true. His claims perfectly correspond to reality. God never inflates his claims. He never speaks bigger than he is. And have you read your Bible?! Have you listened to the things God says about himself?! Think for a moment of some of the things God says about himself. If someone came to your door claiming the things God claims for himself in his word, how would you respond?
Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Every word of God perfectly corresponds to his essence, his being. He is what he says. His representation of himself matches exactly the reality of who he is. He is true.
I Am The Truth
In John 14, when Jesus is about to go to the cross, Jesus says:
John 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
And he tells his disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them, to bring them to be with him where he is. When Thomas expresses confusion as to the destination and how to get there, Jesus responds:
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus does not claim merely to know the truth, or to tell the truth; Jesus claims to be the truth. He says: “I am the truth.” He says “you believe in God, believe also in me.” Jesus is the truth. He is all that he claims to be, all that he ought to be. Jesus' very essence embodies exactly who God is. As Hebrews tells us,
Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. …
Jesus is the perfectly accurate representation of who God is. He is the truth.
In Revelation, Jesus is called “the holy one, the true one; the Amen, the faithful and true witness; Sovereign Lord, holy and true (Rev.3:7, 14; 6:10). In Revelation 19,
Revelation 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
True Satisfaction
Jesus is faithful and true. In John 6, after Jesus fed 5,000 and the crowds pursued him to the other side of the lake, seeking more food, Jesus said:
John 6:32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ...55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
In what way does Jesus mean that he is the true bread from heaven? Does he mean true as opposed to metaphorical? In what way is his flesh true food and his blood true drink? Does he mean that we are to eat and drink his flesh and blood in a literal physical way? Clearly not. In the rest of the passage he clarifies that what is required is to come to him and believe in him. But he is saying that his flesh and blood is that which nourishes, sustains and satisfies us in a more genuine, real, and lasting way than any physical food. That which is true is that which is reliable, which can be depended upon, which does not fail or disappoint.
Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. ... 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
Nothing satisfies human need, human longing like Jesus.
True and Trustworthy
Because God is true, he is trustworthy. He will live up to every expectation. He will perfectly keep his word. He will never disappoint those who trust in him, those who believe in him. Paul addresses Titus:
Titus 1:1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
God never lies. When God promises, he binds himself to make good on his promises. God is truth and God is completely trustworthy.
Hebrews 6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, ...17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
When God takes an oath, he swears by himself, because there is none higher, none greater, no more sure standard of truth than himself. He is the absolute standard of truth. All truth comes from him. And the truth of God should give us strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us in the promises of God.
The Gospel is the Word of Truth
In the New Testament letters 'the truth' or 'the word of truth' comes to be synonymous with the gospel, the good news that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again, securing our forgiveness. (2Cor.4:2; Gal.2:5, 14; Eph.1:13; Col.1:5). We are to obey the truth, believe the truth, know the truth, love the truth, walk in step with the truth, be established in the truth... (Rom.2:8; Gal.5:7; Col.1:6; 2 Thes.2:10, 12, 13; 1Tim.2:4; 4:3; 2Tim.2:25; 3:7; 1Pet.1:22; 2Pet.1:12; 2Jn1:4; 3Jn.1:3)
Obtaining Truth
God is faithful and true. He is abundant in faithfulness and full of truth. He is the light by which we can discern what is genuine and what is counterfeit. How he portrays himself exactly corresponds to what he is in reality. Because he is true, he can be depended on, he will not disappoint or fail us. Jesus is the truth, the perfect expression of who God is, and the good news of Jesus is the truth that must be loved, embraced, obeyed.
In 2 Timothy, Paul charges Timothy to 'rightly handle the word of truth (2Tim.2:15). He says:
2 Timothy 2:24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
Notice how a knowledge of the truth comes. It does not come from hard study or persuasive arguments. It is repentance that leads to a knowledge of the truth; a turning, a change of mind and heart. And notice, this is a gift of God. If we have come to know and believe and love the truth, if we have come to see Jesus as the truth, we should not suppress that truth; rather we should honor God as God and give thanks to him.
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org