‘Behold, the Lamb of God’
ide
o amnos tou theou
College Study
43rd teaching
7.8.2013
“God’s Veracity”
Project
Scriptura:
Announce next week’s topic (God’s Wrath), challenge each person to find ONE Bible verse about
this attribute of God to share next week, you may use any resource as long as
you find just one verse.
Review:
What was our topic last week? His Moral
Perfection, one of the most debated and challenged attributes of God today.
What were the two questions your two groups were presented with, based on
accusations of God’s Moral Perfection? Can
someone restate to us the Epicurean paradox, AKA the problem of evil? How
should we respond to the questions and accusations other people have about God?
End Review
Many, many years ago, there lived a man who served as
governor. He worked under the Emperor, who pressured him to keep the peace in
his jurisdiction. But he also worked over a people who were a constant threat
of rebellion. The man was under a lot of stress because of his position. He
could see an uprising on the horizon.
The man’s name was Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judea.
Like many, he had a problem with truth, specifically on that day when he was
called upon to judge the Man of Truth, Jesus of Nazareth.
Turn to John 18:28-38a.
Pilate had an encounter with truth, not as an idea of as a
statement in so many words, but in the form of the Christ. Truth Himself stood
face to face with the Roman governor. Yet when presented with the embodiment of
Truth, Pilate’s response was a world-weary, embittered and confused question: “What is truth?” He looked into the eyes
of God and asked essentially: “Who is God?”
It seems to me that as we’ve been addressing so many
fundamental and foundational teachings of Christianity, we’ve similarly seen
that these teachings address fundamental and foundational questions that many
millions of people in their world are facing in their lives. For many, the
question of what truth actually is and what is actually true is a deep concern,
a confusion of the heart and mind, of hundreds of thousands all around us who
just like Pilate may be able to see what is true or hear about the truth and
yet not bring themselves to embrace the truth.
I was talking with my brother the other day and he told me
about the new job environment he is in. One quality of his workplace that stood
out to me was the level of confusion there. He said he always thought that the
world and unbelievers would be only hostile to the things of God and to
Christianity, yet what he’s found at least where he’s at now is that many
people know of and have heard of God and the gospel and church
and Jesus, and they’re not necessarily, straight-up hostile toward those things
in conversation as much as they are confused over the bits of info that they do know.
And then I realized, hey, that’s exactly what it is like at
my job. I’ve talked about the Bible and Jesus and God and church there before,
plenty of times. And I’m not usually met with resentment or rage so much as I’m
met with confusion. For example, someone once asked me if I hate Baptists. I
responded “of course not”. Turns out, they thought I was Catholic because they
only thought there was Baptists and Catholics and they knew I wasn’t Catholic.
That took an explanation of what a Protestant is, at the very least. But the
confusion is there.
Ironically, the confusion is there. Though we live in the
information age and you can get any tid-bit or news-clip on demand at any time
of day, people know next to nothing. Though you can learn anything whenever,
people in fact know less now than generations ago did when there was less
convenience in learning. Thus, despite our toys, our smartphones, internet
devices, newspapers, tabloids, TVs and radios, mis-information prevails over
information and confusion prevails over correct understanding. And with all
that misinformation and misrepresentation of God out there, the confusion
surrounding Him deepens.
Now I don’t share that story about job environments to say
that no one in the world is hostile
toward Christianity or God. Certainly, we know there’s plenty of anti-Christian
sentiment out there. And what’s more, Jesus Himself said “If they hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18).
Yet while hostility and hatred exists between the
unbelieving world and God, realizing that this is coupled with confusion. The
world is not only a place of enmity toward God, it is also a place of
searching.
So tonight we come to a subject that’s very relevant to human
experience, to our culture at large: the subject of truth. And not just truth
as an abstract idea, but truth as it is found in the Person of God. Tonight’s
study, then, is entitled: “God’s Veracity”.
Now, you might have discovered that the word veracity means both true and truthful.
Veracity can refer to someone being habitually truthful in character, as in George
Washington who is credited with saying “I cannot tell a lie”. And veracity can
also refer to accuracy, conformity to facts, factual truth, as in “the judge
found the evidence showed the story to be factually true”. So keep that in
mind, two meanings of veractity: true and truthful.
Thus, we come to this attribute of God, His Veracity, which
represents not only His Truth but which represents also a grievous need that
people have. Millions are searching for the truth. Millions stare into the dark
abyss in bed at night when your mind begins to wander and wonder at the deep
questions of life, and millions ask just like Pontius Pilate: “What is Truth?”
To be able to answer this question, we need to turn to
God’s Veracity. The answer is tied up in the Lord Himself. And so in
understanding this attribute of God, we should be better equipped to present
the truth to others like a cool glass of water in a country literally dying of
thirst.
THREE points confront us tonight:
1.
What is Truth?
2.
God as being True
3.
God as being Truthful
1.
What is Truth?
We’re not yet asking “what is true?” We are asking “what is
truth itself?” What defines truth? What makes up truth? What is the nature of
truth?
If we are to go around making truth-claims, such as saying
the Bible is true or that God truly exists, then we must understand and convey
the correct understanding of truth.
And as always, we need to know what we’re talking about
before we talk about it. And when we’re talking about God Himself, about
deep-seated questions that others have and about truth itself, we need the
utmost care and clarity. And as it turns out, truth can be a slippery subject,
a tricky topic to nail down. It is the nature of truth that has got so many
confused.
Let’s then examine 4 qualities of truth:
A. The Nature of Truth Corresponds
Truth is what corresponds to what it refers to. Whether the
object being referred to is abstract or tangible, truth is what corresponds to
the object. In other words, truth is what corresponds to fact, what matches up
with what is actually real established fact.
The Greek word for truth
is aletheia, which can be translated
as “real”, “truthful” and “dependable”, “reliable”. A true statement is one
that can be relied upon and trusted. You can trust the truth, because truth is
what matches up to what is real fact.
For example, the statement Moses Norton is talking right
now is a true statement, why? Because it corresponds to reality. I, Moses
Norton, am talking at this present moment.
Another example: mathematics. In high school, I had a
geometry teacher who used to say “one donkey plus one donkey equals one
donkey”. To this day, I have no idea what he was talking about. But forgetting
him, in actual mathematics there are mathematical truths. 2+2=4. When? Always.
Because whenever you’ve got two objects and put them together with two more
objects, you get four objects. That is exactly what corresponds to reality. It is
what is real, and truth is what which corresponds to reality.
By contrast, lies do not
correspond to reality. If I were to say that Moses Norton is on Jupiter right
now, it would be a statement which does not correspond. It doesn’t match up.
You can see for a fact, because your senses inform you, that you have the
pleasure of listening to my illustrious voice and seeing my actual form. I am
here. Not on Jupiter. Any statement that I am currently elsewhere would be
false because it would not correspond.
Thus truth is what corresponds to reality.
B. The Nature of Truth is Absolute
Remember 2+2=4? Of course you do. Well guess what? That
mathematical truth is absolute. 2+2=4 not only for Americans, but also for the
Irish. And it equals 4 for rhinoceroses, monkeys, fish and rocks. 2+2=4 in
Japan, in Norway, in Jerusalem, in the Sea of Tranquility and on Mars. It’s a
universal truth. And when it comes to math, it is not a truth but the truth.
2+2=4 is the true answer, not a true answer.
What did Jesus say in John
14:6? He said “I am the way, the
truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” That’s
singular! That’s narrow! That’s absolute! He didn’t say “try me out, have a
demo version of Jesus to see if you like Me, after all, I am a way, a truth and a life; there’s many roads to heaven,
but try Jesus”. He didn’t say that. There aren’t many roads to heaven. There is
only one, absolutely.
As it turns out, truth is absolute. While that may fly in
the faces of many modern views of truth as relative, it actually doesn’t
matter. It doesn’t matter if truth being absolute is unpopular or unaccepted,
it still remains true regardless.
Winston Churchill said “The truth is incontrovertible.
Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” So
because truth corresponds with the facts of reality, and facts do not change
whether their unpopular or unaccepted, truth itself does not change but it is
absolute.
C. The Nature of Truth is Discovery
Before Copernicus, there was a clever astronomer from the 3rd
century BC named Aristarchus. Now he proposed what’s called a Heliocentric
solar system, that is a solar system in which Earth and the other planets
revolve around the Sun. In his day, however, the predominant view was that the
Earth was at the center of the solar system and the other planets and the Sun
revolved around us. That’s kind of the idea you get if you look at the sky, see
the sun passing from east to west and the stars wheeling overhead. However,
Aristarchus suggested based on his calculations that the solar system had the
Sun, not the Earth, as its center.
Now after Aristarchus’ discovery, should we believe that
the universe suddenly morphed so that the Sun became the center of the universe
and not the Earth? Of course not! The discovery of the truth showed that the
Sun was always the center and not Earth. What changed was the human
understanding of reality, reality itself did not change.
Before America was discovered, was it really here? Of
course. Truth remains true before and after its discovery. And truth does not
change, only our understanding of it does. Our beliefs about truth can change
with our knowledge, but truth itself does not change.
So if someone says “what’s true today may not be true
tomorrow” forget about that guy. He didn’t do his research! What is true is
what corresponds to reality, to the facts. And that does not change.
Thus truth is not invented but it is discovered. That’s a
key for conveying the Bible to others. When we say that the Bible is true, we
mean that it was not invented truth from man but discovered truth from God.
D. The Nature of Truth is Narrow
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that I am 6 feet tall.
If I’m 6’ tall, is it true that I am also 6’ 1” tall or 5’ 11” tall? Truth is,
if I’m 6 feet tall, I am nothing short of 6 feet tall and certainly no taller
than 6’ on up to infinity. No matter how many numbers you add or subtract to my
height, there is only one correct measurement and one correct answer to the
question of my height: 6 feet tall.
Doesn’t that seem a little narrow? Well of course it is.
And as it turns out, because truth is absolute and it corresponds, there is
only one right answer: what reality actually is. No other variable can be true.
2+2 will never equal 1 or 2 or 3 or 5 or any number greater
than 5, no matter how many digits you add. There is only one answer, and while that answer is narrow by definition, it
remains nonetheless true.
Interesting that critics complain that Christianity is too
narrow. Jesus being the only way is
too narrow. Well, oddly enough they’re complaining that Christ and Christianity
are too true. Truth is narrow by definition and that is precisely what
Christianity presents itself to be: the narrow way that leads to heaven. Broad
is the way that leads to destruction.
So narrow’s not a bad thing. Truth in fact is narrow.
*What do we know about the Nature of Truth, then? Four
things: Truth is what corresponds to reality; Truth is absolute true for
everyone at the same time; Truth is discovered not invented; Truth is narrow by
definition.
And this is precisely the view of truth that the Bible
uses. The Bible doesn’t present truth as relative or existential, but as
corresponding to reality. We discover what truth is actually like and find that
the Bible truly portrays truth in a true way.
In the book of Genesis,
God commands Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil or they would surely die. That was a statement which corresponded to
reality, to fact. And when the serpent lied, he said precisely the opposite of
what was real: that they would not surely die. The Bible uses a correspondence
view of truth and fact: the God of truth makes statements that match reality
while Satan, the father of lies, makes statements that do not match reality.
*Now while it’s pretty clear that this is just how truth
should work, the world has come up with all kinds of false views of truth. But
these do not hold up.
For example, the world has a love affair with its idea of
relativistic truth, that truth is relative. It changes from person to person.
The Roman Emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius said: “Everything we hear is
an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth”.
That’s the creed for our modern society of blind tolerance. And so you hear
people say “well, that’s true for you but not for me; in fact, what’s true for
you may not be true for me”. See some believe that this whole Christian thing
is true for us but not for them. But given what we’ve learned about truth, this
cannot be the case. Facts do not change from person to person.
I like Norman Geisler’s explanation on this: “Are some
things true only for some people? ...For example, ‘I feel warm’ may be true for
me but not for you; you may feel cold. Isn’t this an example of a relative
truth? Not really. Actually the statement ‘I (Norman Geisler) feel warm’ (said…
May 1, 2010) is true for everyone in the universe. Why? Because it is not true
for anyone that Norman Geisler did not feel warm on May 1, 2010. In fact, it is
not only true for everyone but it is
also true everywhere that Norman
Geisler felt warm on May 1, 2010. And it will be true in all places—in Moscow,
Beijing, Washington, and even in outer space—that Norman Geisler felt warm on
May 1, 2010. But if it is true for all people in all places for all time, then
it is an absolute truth. So what at first looked relative turned out to be
unchanging.”
What’s more, the statement that “all truth is relative” is
itself a statement of absolute truth and therefore self-defeating. To say that
absolutely all truth is relative is to say nonsense: a self-contradictory
statement.
The world also adheres to ideas like pragmatism: that
something is true only if it works. Yet, we must reject that idea as well. We
all know from childhood on that lies can sometimes work rather well. When I was
a kid I sort of laughed at the idea of not lying just because I would have to
remember more things I made up than if I just told the truth. Lying just being
more difficult than telling the truth didn’t sway me to honesty.
Note there’s something to say there about presenting sinful
behavior as being morally wrong simply because it’s more difficult than doing
good. We know that’s not the case. Sometimes it’s a heck-of-a-lot easier to get
away with badness than goodness. But badness is bad not because it’s difficult
but because it is a crime against a Holy God. But that’s another story for
another day.
*Now that we firmly understand what truth is, as well as
what it is not, we can examine God’s Veracity, His truth-being and His
truth-telling. We’ll look at both the truth of His character and how He
embodies truth in the following two points.
But first, let’s have our Project Scriptura verses. And
given the data of Scripture, we’ll be able to see whether the Bible is saying
that God tells the truth or that He is
the truth in this verse or that verse. Remember, Veracity has both of those two
meanings, and the Bible uses both descriptions for God:
Titus 1:2/Romans 3:3-4/Hebrews 6:18/Psalm 119:142/Psalm 25:5/Psalm 119:160/1 John 5:20
2.
God as Being True
God not only tells the truth,
but He also embodies the truth.
James Russell Lowell was an American poet of the 1800s who
wrote the words: “Light is the symbol of truth.” Do you guys remember what a
kindred-doctrine is? A doctrine or attribute of God which is closely related to
another doctrine or attribute of God.
Speaking of God’s Veracity and truth, there is a
metaphysical attribute of His which is a kindred-doctrine: His Light.
Remember that the qualities of light are such that, as the
poet said, light is the symbol of truth. Light reveals and makes things known,
it shows the truth. So too, the God of truth makes truth known, reveals His
will and plan and Word, and shows the truth to humanity.
So truth is a quality of God summed up in metaphysical
terms as His Light and in moral terms as His veracity. By nature, God is truth.
While we as creatures have truth or can say truth or use truth, God is truth.
Consider that if truth is what corresponds to reality and
if God Himself is truth, than God Himself must correspond to reality. And God
Himself is the ultimate Being of reality and He corresponds with Himself.
One concept that has continually come up during our
studies, is the idea that God’s attributes each interlock and support one
another. None of God’s attributes contradict another. They all fit together and
build upon one another to describe the essence and the character of the One God
Most High. In this sense, God is true to Himself. He corresponds to Himself.
His perfect actions flow from His perfect character. His perfect character is
based on His perfect essence. God is truth in a perfect way by nature, by
self-identity.
Maybe
this analogy will help. Consider this line of thought:
a. All who submit to the Pope are
Roman Catholic.
b. The Pope cannot submit to
himself.
c. Therefore, the Pope is not
Roman Catholic.
Now that’s a ridiculous statement. Who’s more catholic than
the Pope? The problem lies in the second premise. The Pope in fact can submit to himself by following the
same standards that he lays down for every Roman Catholic, including himself.
Likewise, God can and does live according to His own
standards and authority. His actions and words are regulated by His nature. God
Himself corresponds to the ultimate reality: Himself. He lives perfectly
according to His own perfection. Thus He is true to Himself. He corresponds to
Himself. That throws quite a deep meaning upon the statement of Christ when He
said “I am the truth”.
No other being in existence embodies truth in this way. We
contradict ourselves all the time. We lie to ourselves all the time. We are
mistaken all the time. God, in all the endless eons of His existence, has never
once contradicted Himself. He has never once lied, never once been mistaken or
confused or misguided or deceived. Nothing about God’s actions or essence or
character has any hint of falsity. His life is one which is entirely devoid of
falsehood, a life which is wholly and infinitely true.
Now because God corresponds to Himself, He is essentially
truth by nature, His character matches up:
3.
God as being Truthful
God not only embodies the truth, but He tells only the
truth. In fact, He could swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth so help Him Himself!
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no
shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.” The words of the old hymn point out
that God’s unchanging truthfulness is otherwise known as His Faithfulness.
And make no mistake, His Faithfulness is unchanging. The
Bible says multiple times that God cannot lie. We know from the doctrine of
Impeccability that God is incapable of sinning, and thus incapable of lying. He
cannot but tell the truth because He is truth by nature. More so than George
Washington, God is always totally honest.
And that honesty is also an element of His love. I watched
a confrontation someone had posted in a video on Facebook between a group of
atheists and a Christian who was preaching out in the open air standing on a
bench. The Christian was being accused of hate-crimes and terrorism for
preaching the gospel. But the Christian asked the woman holding the camcorder
“Which is the more loving friend? The one who sees his friend walking toward
the edge of a cliff and does not warn him, or the one who sees his friend
walking toward the edge of a cliff and does
warn him?”
The obvious answer is the one who warns his friend of
impending doom. Now God is that loving friend. He is always honest, even of
things that can hurt us or may hurt our feelings. You’ve heard the phrase
“brutally honest”. Sometime honesty requires brutality. And I don’t mean that
physically. Don’t go out beating people up with the Bible or with your fists.
What I mean is that honest can sometimes require stepping on peoples’ toes. The
truth hurts. The truth can upset.
*There are a lot of biblical concepts and truths that ride
upon and are supported by God’s veracity, such as the doctrine of biblical
inerrancy. Inerrancy hangs upon God’s veracity. Inerrancy states that there are
zero errors in the original text of
the Bible as it was passed down from God to man. Since God tells the truth,
there could not possibly be any errors in His Word as He spoke it.
Another important biblical concept hangs upon God’s
veracity: His promises. All over Scripture, even from the very beginning, God
makes promises to humanity.
Speaking of the promises that He made to King David, the
Lord says: “My covenant I will not break,
nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My
holiness; I will not lie to David...” (Psalm
89:35).
Did you ever stop to realize that promises are totally
dependent upon the reliability of the one making the promise? Common sense,
right? A promise is only as good as the one making the promise, and a good man
can be seen in the promises he has kept.
How many times were you let down as a kid when your parents
made you promises, maybe that you even knew they couldn’t keep, promises that
they ended up not keeping? How many times have you watched a movie, heard a
character say “I promise” and sort of rolled your eyes? Whenever I hear someone
saying “I promise” all loud and clear in a movie, I’m like “well, there’s the conflict
for the whole plot”. How many times have we heard this or that politician make
promises with all the exuberance and enthusiasm of their campaign, only to
discover that they too make promises to break promises?
And I think, because we’ve been exposed to so many broken
promises that we’ve become kind of cynical. We’ve become jaded toward promises
and promise-keeping. You can see a definite rise of cynicism in each successive
generation. And sadly, the bitterness with which society sees the world can sometimes
creep into the church, taking the natural distrust of culture and turning it
into spiritual distrust of in the church. And thus promises seem dull and
lifeless.
Yet wouldn’t that be precisely where Satan would want you
to be? Don’t you think he wants you to be in a state of mind that is inherently
cynical and distrustful of promises, so that when you come to God’s own
promises you automatically brush them aside? We can eventually become
Christians that reject the promises of God because we don’t want promises to
let us down anymore. Society can train us to reject God’s promises.
That cannot happen.
Do you realize that God is a God of Veracity? At once, it
seems like it is not only unbelievers who have a problem with truth, but it is
also believers who have a problem with truth, in the form of trust. And that’s
a deep heart-issue. That’s a heart-problem.
Do you believe that you can trust God? Can you trust Him
for the big things and the little things, for protection, provision, for
finding a job, for finding a spouse, for getting direction and guidance?
God has promised many things throughout His Word. I would
challenge you to read the Bible in such a way that when you come across a
promise of God, you consciously ask yourself whether you actually believe He
will fulfill it or not. Consciously remember this bible study. Consciously
remember God’s attribute of veracity. Consciously remember that God does what
He says because He only tells the truth.
If promises only depend upon the one making the promise,
then you have the greatest guarantee in the universe in the promises of God.
Not only does He have the veracity to keep His promises, but He also has the
ability to ensure they’re kept.
And there’s nothing to “declare” here. You don’t have to
get into something mystical like “proclaiming” the promises of God on yourself.
You know that people get all into naming and claiming God’s promises? Does that
make sense at all? Why would you have to claim
promises that were promised to you in the first place?
It’s like when you were a kid, did you have to “claim” the
promises made by your parents in order to have those promises kept?
You don’t have to claim the promise that He will give you
rest. He already said “I will give
you rest.”
You have nothing to do with getting what God promises you.
By definition, promises are meant to be promised. God will keep His promises.
You don’t have to claim them. You only have to trust the One making the
promises. And that’s Christianity. That’s inheriting eternal life. That’s
having a relationship with God based on trust. That’s relying on Him to satisfy
all your needs.
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