The Truthfulness of God

Truth, real truth, comes from only one place. It is not dependent upon our feelings.

It is fact-driven. It is true whether it speaks to matters of salvation, whether it speaks to matters of science, whether it speaks to matters of history. No matter what the Bible addresses, it speaks with pure truth. When we as Christians say that God's truth is universal and unchanging, the world pushes back.

We're told that truth is relative, so objective truth is downright offensive. Today on Renewing Your Mind, Dr. Stephen Lawson continues his series on the attributes of God with a message on the radical countercultural claim that God is absolute truth. In this session, we come to the truthfulness of God. The truthfulness of God means that He is the God of truth and that He speaks only the truth. God is the author of truth. He is the source of truth. He is the determiner of truth. He is the arbitrator of truth. He is the final judge of all truth. He is the ultimate standard of all truth. It is the truthfulness of God to which we want to direct our attention. What is truth?

Pilate said what is truth? To put it in one word, truth is reality. It is the way things really are. Truth is veracity. Truth is actuality.

It's the way things actually are. Truth is not how things may appear to us to be. Truth is not what we want something to be. Truth is not what the majority say something is.

Truth is not what some exit poll would determine reality is. No, truth is that which is consistent with God Himself. God is truth. Truth is that which is consistent with the mind of God. It is all that which is consistent with the will of God, the glory of God, the being of God, and everything that does not line up with the holiness of God and the perfections of God is not true. God is the standard and the source of all truth.

Now, as we consider this very important attribute of God, there are several features that I want to set before you. I have some nine characteristics of truth that I want us to be locked in on. Number one, truth is divine. I've already alluded to that in this introduction, but truth is God's truth. In other words, truth does not originate in this world. Truth does not originate with man.

Truth must come down from above. Truth must be given to us by divine revelation. God is truth, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And we know that God the Father is truth.

We read in Psalm 31 verse 5, you have ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth. Isaiah 65, 16, he is identified as the God of truth. Jesus Christ is also identified as the truth, is He not? One of our favorite verses in all of Scripture, John 14, 6, I am the way and the truth, not a truth, the truth.

The definite article is critically important. There is no truth outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a monopoly on the truth. He is the truth. Not only does He just speak the truth, He is the truth.

Ephesians 4 verse 21 is a glorious verse. It says, as truth is in Christ. If indeed you have heard Him, referring to Christ, and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus.

It's all in Jesus. There's no redemptive truth outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every other religion does not tell the truth. Every other supposed religious leader does not tell the truth. Only Jesus tells the truth.

He is the truth. And the Holy Spirit is identified as the Spirit, capital S, the Spirit of truth. John 14, 17, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive. John 15, 26, when the Helper comes, we know who that is, that's the Holy Spirit, capital H, when the Helper comes, the Paraclete, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth.

In John 16, 13, we hear it again for the third time in the Upper Room Discourse. But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. Who else could guide us into all the truth except the Spirit of truth?

We all need to have the Holy Spirit to be our teacher, do we not? God has appointed human teachers, but there is only one primary teacher, capital T, and that is God Himself who must guide us into the truth. Now second, not only is truth divine, it is absolute. And that is to say, truth makes exclusive claims, not inclusive, exclusive claims when it speaks.

It is the sole and ultimate standard for that which is right. Whenever the Bible speaks of truth, it never has an indefinite article in front of it, a truth, it is always the definite article, the, the truth. The Bible, for example, is identified in 2 Timothy 2 verse 15 as the word of truth. Any departure from the word of God is to pursue that which is not true, to pursue that which is in error, to pursue that which is a lie, to pursue that which is false. Satan is identified as the antithesis of the truth. Jesus said in John 8 verse 44, you are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth. Jesus addressed this to the most religious and outwardly spiritual people on planet earth, the Pharisees. And He said, you're of your father the devil, you do not stand in the truth. Paul wrote in Romans 3 verse 4, let God be found true and every man be found a liar. Truth is absolute.

It is concrete. There is right and there is wrong and it draws a very thin but bold line in the sand. It makes a clear distinction between one thing and another. Truth is discriminating. Truth is entirely incompatible with the wisdom of this world and the teachings of men. Third, truth is objective.

When we say objective, we mean that it is propositional. It is revealed in clearly defined words that have precise meaning. Truth is revealed in specific teachings, specific doctrines. And the Word of God is true as we noted earlier down to the smallest jot and the smallest tittle. It is truth down to its most minute part. The entire Bible is inerrant and it is infallible.

It has verbal plenary inspiration. Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 18, for truly I say to you, and you know whenever Jesus says for truly I say to you, that is like taking out a yellow highlight pen and just underscoring it that what I'm about to say to you is of critical importance. Now everything that Jesus said was true, but some things rise to a higher level of importance than other things. And Jesus would flag our attention by prefacing his important statements by saying, truly, truly I say unto you, truth, truth, verily, verily.

Now how does the rest of the verse go? Truly, truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. This speaks so clearly that objective truth down to its most minute detail as recorded in the written Word of the living God, it is pure unadulterated truth. It is strictly cognitive. It's not subjective.

It is not dependent upon our feelings. It is fact-driven. It is true whether it speaks to matters of salvation, whether it speaks to matters of science, whether it speaks to matters of history, no matter what the Bible addresses, it speaks with pure truth. Now fourth, truth is singular. When we say it is singular, we mean it stands as one body of truth. It never contradicts itself. It's never competing against itself.

One statement is never canceling out another statement. It is all interwoven to form one perfect tapestry of truth. Every stone is brought together to comprise one temple of truth that fits together perfectly. It is one body of divinity.

It is one system of theology. It all holds together to form one network of truth. James Montgomery Boice, great pastor and preacher of yesteryear, writes, truth is singular.

It is not in fragments that would require us to speak of truths, plural, in the sense of unrelated facts or items. Boice says, truth holds together. Therefore, there is no phase of truth that is not related to every other phase of truth. Then Boice writes, all things that are true are part of the truth and stand in a proper and inescapable relationship to God, who is Himself the truth.

That's why when we open our Bibles in Genesis and when we conclude in Revelation, it all just fits together seamlessly. It forms one word of truth. Jude 3 says that we must earnestly contend for the faith, definite article V, the faith, referring to the Christian faith of truth.

We must earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. There is but one singular body of truth. As this relates to God Himself, He doesn't speak out of both sides of His mouth. He doesn't say one thing to one group and something else to another group. He doesn't have one way of salvation for the Jew and a different way of salvation for the Gentile. No, it is all the same truth for every man, every woman on planet earth. That is why, as I travel around and have opportunity to preach the Word of God, what I preach in one city is what I preach in another city.

What I preach on one continent is what I preach on another continent. This book is singular truth that every man, every woman on planet earth must hear because God Himself is truth and there is no other truth. Now number five, it's immutable.

Now we've already talked about that, so we don't need to spend a long time here, but remember this is all woven together and interrelated. God's truth is immutable. It's unchangeable. God does not change. His truth does not change. His Word does not change. Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our Lord stands forever. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to fail. That was Psalm 119, 89, Isaiah 40, verse 8, Luke 16, verse 17. No truth of Scripture will ever be annulled. No truth of Scripture will ever be abrogated. Truth is always truth.

Now let me make one point of application here. Some churches are wanting to be contemporary. Great, preach the truth. Contemporary has nothing to do with the style of music. It has everything to do with the substance of the message. There is nothing more up to date than the Bible. There is nothing more contemporary and current than the truth of the Word of God.

The most contemporary church is a church that is Bible teaching, Bible preaching. God's Word is more up to date than tomorrow's newspaper. It speaks. The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It's immutable.

It has nothing to do with the culture around us. It has everything to do with the truth of God's Word. Now, number six, we're talking about elements of God's truth. His character is truth.

Universal. All truth is universal. And we've already touched on this to one degree or another, but truth is true for everyone, in every place.

Truth is true everywhere, in every culture, in every situation, without exception. The truth transcends societies. It transcends cultures. It transcends generations. It transcends gender. It transcends age groups.

Consequently, there's not one way of looking at the world in one part of the country that's different from another part of the country. I go to California regularly. I preach there. There are a lot of interesting things that happen in California and a lot of interesting people, but I've also found the strongest Christians in America in California as well.

You've got to take a stand one way or another in California. I mean, you either love the Lord or you're a nut. I mean, it's one of the two. There's very little in between. And here in the South, sometimes everybody's saved, you know, supposedly.

My daddy was a deacon at the church, my granddaddy this, and on and on and on. Listen, it doesn't matter which coast we're standing on or what part of the country we are in. There is but one book of truth. It is the Word of God, and it does not speak with stuttering or mumbling. It speaks straight forward. It is universal. No matter where people are on the globe, it is the truth that they need to hear.

It is universal. That is why even at this Ligonier National Conference that we're about to have, we have people coming from Brazil and Europe and all over the world to sit with us, and this truth will all be the same for all of us. Now, number seven, truth is illuminating. And when we say truth is illuminating, we mean that it shines light and enables us to see the world properly. Psalm 119 verse 105 says, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

This is a very dark world in which we live, is it not? And to make sense of the world is a challenge to each one of us. And there is only one way for us to understand the world of business and the world of politics and the world of entertainment and all of the different facets of culture and society, and that is to have the bright shining torch of the Word of God that enlightens our mind. It gives us the mind of Christ.

It allows us to see the world around us and life around us and to size up what is going on in the world. Oh, the truth is so illuminating. You can put a child of God in a basement with the lights off, but they have a Bible and a little flashlight and they can read the truth and they can know more about what's going on out in the world and what reality is out in the world than all the news anchors on television and all of the up and up government leaders in this world.

No, it's the one who has the Word of God, has the most illuminating insight into reality all around, and without the Word of God, one is left in the dark. There's an eighth quality that I want you to see and that is that the Word of God is trustworthy, which means it is reliable. It is entirely dependable. It is sure and steadfast. It is unfailing.

It is worthy of our trust and our commitment. It has never faltered. It has never failed. No one has ever believed what the truth says and been misled. The truth has never made a wrong diagnosis of a man's problem or of a woman's life.

The truth always tells it like it is. It has never given an inaccurate estimate of the way things are. The truth has never offered the wrong counsel nor given the wrong solution nor offered the wrong remedy. John MacArthur writes, the Bible contains no contradictions, no errors, and no unsound principles. The Bible is not filled with absurdities and contradictions and fantasies. It is entirely consistent with itself and perfectly consistent with all that is true. The facts set forth in Scripture are reliable. The historical events described in the Bible are true history, not mythological or fanciful or allegorical. The doctrines taught in the Bible are without error. The details of Scripture are accurate details from day one of creation to the ultimate consummation of Christ's return. Scripture itself, MacArthur writes, is completely free of all errors and all deficiencies.

You know why? A man in his word cannot be separated. Neither can God in His word. And because God is holy, God can only tell the truth. He is the God of all truth.

He is to be believed. There's a final element of truth that I want you to note, and that is that truth is authoritative. It possesses the power to make assertive demands upon our lives. Truth is never just interesting. It's never a mere suggestion.

It's never something for us simply to ponder or to consider. Neither is it simply one option among many voices out there to which we must give our attention. No, truth is sovereign. Truth has the right to rule our lives. Truth is demanding.

Truth calls for the verdict. Truth requires our response. We cannot simply learn the truth and be a hearer of the truth without becoming a doer of the truth. It is incumbent upon us to incorporate the truth by obedience and by faith into our very lives. No one can be saved apart from the truth.

No one can be sanctified apart from the truth. You can't get there from here without the truth. The truth is absolutely essential. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, and Christ is the truth teacher. How we thank God that He tells it like it is to us, how we thank God that when He speaks to us, it is pure veracity. He tells us the reality and the actuality of the way things are and the way that we must live and the way that we must believe in Him.

Thankfully we're not left to wonder what God requires of us. We have the truth of His Word in Scripture. This week on Renewing Your Mind, we have been pleased to feature Dr. Stephen Lawson's series, The Attributes of God.

He's described God's omnipresence, His omniscience, omnipotence, immutability, and today, God's truthfulness. These are only five of the 16 lessons in this series, and you can request them all on two DVDs when you contact us today with a donation of any amount. We're also including Dr. Lawson's newest book, one that came about because of this teaching series.

It's titled Show Me Your Glory, and Dr. Lawson goes into further detail on these attributes of God. Request both of these resources when you contact us today. And just a reminder, this is the last day we're making this offer available. Our phone number is 800-435-4343. You can also give your gift and make your request online at renewingyourmind.org. Let me remind you that our resource library is constantly expanding here at Ligonier Ministries, and you can explore audio and video teaching series when you download the free Ligonier app. Content is refreshed daily, so you'll always find something new to learn.

Just search for Ligonier in your app store. Well, in Romans chapter 6, Paul says that we are not under law but under grace. So does that mean we can ignore Old Testament laws? Join us next week as Dr. R.C.

Sproul addresses that question in his series, God's Law and the Christian. Plus, on Thursday and Friday next week, R.C. will look at what the Bible teaches about civil disobedience. I hope you'll join us beginning Monday here on Renewing Your Mind.