Part 18 | The Only True God – God is True

By Vic Gill – Friday 21st May 2010

HE IS THE TRUTH

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:1-6)

God is true. God is true in the sense that He is real. He exists. He is not a figment of your imagination and nor is He a mythical story passed down. God is not a theory or even a fact which is designed and created by men. God is not fashioned by humans like George Santayana would have some to believe. Neither is He dead like the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declared. He is not created by priests to keep the masses under control fear. He exists. He is true in His metaphysical being.

How can I say this with such confidence you say? Surely it borders arrogance to assume without evidence. Well, I don’t think arrogance, but evidence is the issue here because God has given ample evidence which points to His undeniable existence. I would encourage you to consider the ontological, teleological, cosmological and moral arguments for the existence of God.

Whilst I will not labour in this article to show the evidence for God, I will say this. The Bible does not try to prove that God is true; it assumes His existence as the norm. Evidence can be screaming in the face of a person, but it remains God’s prerogative to declare Himself. He can choose to do disclose Himself or conceal Himself. The Bible teaches in Romans 1:18 that it is not the lack of evidence, but the suppression of evidence and truth. Men in their rebellion hate God and don’t want Him to exist. They reject Him by denying Him in order to live in the pleasure of sin. Aldous Huxley acknowledged this when he wrote his book Ends and Means: “We objected to morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom.”

God is the true God. Not only is God true in that He exists, but that He is the only true God. There is not a plurality of God’s. All other gods are not real. There are not many God’s and there are not many paths to God. There is only one, true and living God and He is the creator of all things. I would encourage you to read Jeremiah 10 which goes to a great length to show the true God of the universe in the light of false gods and idols.

Jesus is the true God. Now this is what Jesus says to those who believe in God. “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” He has equated Himself parallel with God Almighty, making Himself God. He is the embodiment of all God is. That is why He could say to His disciples, “I am the truth,” and why He could tell Pilate that He came to bear witness to the truth. That is why John could say, “full of grace and trutht” (John 1:17). He is the visible manifestation of the invisible God. The Apostle John writes: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). Jesus Christ is the true God.

Truth is exclusive. One of the most exlcusive statements ever made in the Bible and indeed to proceed from the lips of man is found in John 14:6. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” But hang on, what about Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Hinduism? What about all those who claim to be a path to God? Not all can be the truth can they? If they are the truth then surely Jesus’ statement would be false or inaccurate. However, when you look at the life of Jesus compared to all else, none compare. Here is a man who looks at His accusers and says “which of you convicts me of sin” (John 8:46). He lived a perfect life without sin. Notice Jesus does not say “I am a way, a truth a life.” He does not leave this open to discussion but explicitly states the truth that He is the only way, the only truth and the only life.

Truth by nature excludes. It is truths nature to exclude the opposite which is falsehood. If something is true, something must be false. There are so many people who like to think they are “nice” because they accept and respect all religions. Take for example the differences and similarities between Christianity and Islam. Muslims believe in the virgin birth. They believe in the incarnation. They believe in the miracles of Jesus. Okay, there is a point of agreement to this point. However, come the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Islam outright denies this great Christian truth. Both can be wrong, but only one can be right. Either He was crucified and rose again from the dead, or He wasn’t. What is the truth? Well, the overwhelming evidence of truth points to the truth that Jesus was indeed crucified and that He did rise again from the dead. As Dr Ravi Zacharias says “Greek historians, Roman historians, Pagan historians, Jewish historians all acknowledge this event.”

Why then does Islam reject this fundamental truth? Well, if He did die and rise again, then He was who He said He was, God in the flesh. This would mean that even Muhammad would be subject to Jesus Christ. Praise be to God that every day thousands of Muslims are coming to this truth.

Therefore, Jesus’ statements can be taken in three ways. He could either be a lunatic, a liar or Lord. The first two would have to be quickly reasoned away simply by reading the life of Jesus as declared in the Gospels. His life was certainly not characterised by lies and lunacy. No other religious leader in history predicted their own death and bodily resurrection and left numerous eyewitnesses to testify to this fact. He must therefore be Lord.

Christ is the fountain and source of all truth. He is not just a figure, type, shadow or outline of the truth. He presents Himself as the substance of truth. A true enquiry of truth will lead to Jesus Christ. If all roads lead to Rome, then all truth leads to Jesus Christ. Jesus said

Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins. (John 8:24)

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

Have you ever heard such claims? Have you ever heard such words to proceed from the mouth a mere man? Who can stand up and claim to be the final arbiter of truth? Who has ever stood up and claimed to be the truth? Beloved, these are not mere words, these words are life. God’s Word pierces to the deepest division of soul and spirit, something no other person or religious book can do or has done. Jesus said:

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)

HE REVEALS THE TRUTH

If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. (John 14:7-11)

Christ reveals the truth about God by disclosing Himself. Whilst in the past God has spoken at various times and in various ways, He has now truly revealed Himself through His Son. Jesus has come to reveal the true nature of God – His Fatherhood, His love, His mercy, His patience, His kindness, His longsuffering, His Gospel. Jesus came to reveal through His life the glory, personhood and works of God. To look at Jesus would be to look at God. Knowing the truth about Jesus is knowing the truth about the Father.

But God also reveals the truth to us through the Word of God (the Bible), His Son and His Spirit. Whilst He also reveals His truth through nature, He has chosen to reveal the ultimate truth about God through the person and work of Jesus Christ as declared in Scriptures.

HE REQUIRES THE TRUTH

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:12-18)

Loving Jesus means loving the truth. If you love Jesus, you will keep His commandments. It is not sufficient for us to say we believe in the truth, we must live in the truth and that is demonstrated by keeping His commandments. Our love for Christ is determined by our obedience to Him. He requires this of us. Jesus commands us to keep His commandments. But not out of burden or mere conformity to theological truths and doctrine. He is looking for truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6).

If God is a God of truth, he is true to his THREATENINGS (Thomas Watson).

The primary ministry of the Holy Spirit . The primary ministry and work of the Holy Spirit is to testify of Jesus Christ and to guide people to Christ. He does this by convicting the world of sin, righteousness and judgement. He is the Helper who helps us to keep Christ’s commandments and live by the truth and in the truth. He does this by dwelling in the believer and being with us. However His purpose is not to give us all truth:

The Holy Spirit’s work is not to lead us into all historical, geographical, astronomical and mathematical truth. The Holy Spirit is to lead us into all truth concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of God, of the gospel, of the counsel of God about the salvation of the church by Christ (Acts 20:27). The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth necessary for faith and obedience (Acts 20:21). (John Owen)

Tags: Aldous Huxley, Buddhism, Dr Ravi Zacharias, Ends and Means, Exclusive, Friedrich Nietzsche, George Santayana, God is dead, God is true, Hinduism, Holy Spirit, Islam, John 14:6, John Owen, Sikhism, Thomas Watson, Truth

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