Listen again to these particular words. Jesus made an assertion, a statement when he was called before Pilate. This is the second time he's come before Pilate. Pilate asked him a question. So you are a king. Jesus answered, you say that I'm a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." That is a bold assertion. Pilate's response was, what is truth? Denial of truth is rampant today. Many times this is accomplished by redefinition. Most people in our section of the world, meaning the West, the United States and the Northern Hemisphere in particular, seem to have been bought into the idea that there is no objective truth, only subjective ideas of individual truths expressed in such talk as my truth and your truth. Such assertions equal no truth. Two polls undertaken by Barna and another by Summit in the space of about 20 years show 62 to 73 percent of Americans deny the existence of absolute moral truths. Sadly, this also includes those who claim to be evangelicals and born-again Christians. Approximately 43, I believe it was, percent of them have no concept of moral absolutes. In other words, to them, morality is a matter of relativity. Truth is relative and is gaining ground with today's teenagers, a staggering 83% in the year 2020 indicated they had truth as a relative concept to be determined by circumstances. In other words, there is no moral absolute truth. Truth is up for grabs. So it seems the retort, because that's what Pilate's statement was, the retort of Pilate to Jesus' assertion, I was born and for this purpose I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. He retorts, what is truth? It can be heard loud and clear today because that's what so many people say. We say it everywhere today. There's a denial of biological truth, for instance. There is the denial of historical truth. And there is the denial of moral truth. The Bible, however, takes a totally different view about truth. The Bible asserts that truth is in and with God. God is repeatedly proclaimed as the true and living God. Now, truth exists because God the Creator exists. His reality is attested to by the creation that He has made, which runs perfectly. and the creatures that he has made, which are a marvel. There's no way that they have been created by mere non-being. Because that's what evolution states, is that there's a non-being who comes into being And then through these processes of ages makes all this intricacy that we know of the design, for instance, of even of the human body. Such thinking is nonsense. The creation bears eloquent and irrefutable reference to God as the creator. Truth exists then because God the creator exists. And his reality is attested to by the creation that he has made, in all of its perfection, of design, in all of its work. Paul wrote these words in Romans 1.18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, of people, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and His divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, that is, they knew that God existed, they did not honor Him as God or give Him thanks. But they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creepy things. Nancy Percy in her book Total Truth writes, Christianity treats truth as objective and explains why. Because the world is the creation of God, not of my own mind. The doctrine of creation gives logical grounds for belief that an objective, external world exists with its own inherent structure and design." Although people may deny the existence of objective truth and assert a mechanistic view of the world, or even a fantasy view of the world, they find it impossible to find meaning or purpose in such worldviews. In other words, looking upon the world only as a machine that works according to some kind of mechanism, whatever it may be and wherever it came from, doesn't translate into any meaning for life. No one, even those that have these philosophies that are against the biblical view and against democracy, for instance, can ever live according to those particular ideas. Say communism, for example, where everyone should be equal and that no one should own anything individually, but everyone collectively should own everything. Every communistic society that has reportedly come into existence continues to have those who have and those who have not. It has those that are the elite and control everything and the great mass that are totally dependent upon them. In other words, it doesn't work. Or those who claim that somehow the world or reality is simply an imagination. that it's all God, close quote, not a personal God, but it's all God, some kind of life force, they can't live that way either. Why? Because to live, to have being, and to actually function requires that you have to have a belief that there is a reality about things. Otherwise, you would be totally unable to move. So although people may deny the existence of objective truth, They simply cannot live a purposeful and meaningful life without some kind of obedience to an idea of truth. So this brings us to the point that we need to define terms. Always we need to define terms. Now the word truth was first seen in the Middle Ages. And that doesn't mean truth didn't exist. It means the word was first coined in the Middle Ages And it was used to express a correspondence between an object and our knowledge of it. In other words, what he said about something must reflect exactly what that something is if the statement is to be true. This is a quotation from David Wells in his book Courage to be Protestant on page 72. This understanding of truth rests on two assumptions. That is the existence of an observable world external to the human subject. In other words, there's something out there. And second, we can know the events of life in a way that corresponds to what happened. Although we may be fallible in our interpretation of it, nevertheless, we can know that the events of life correspond to some degree to what has happened. Even our perception of it must correspond to some degree. So a quick check with dictionary.com yields the following top results for the meaning of the word truth. Now there are more meanings given, but these are five that find a reflection in the biblical concept of truth. I'll give them to you. The order is found on the internet in dictionary.com. Just look up the word truth. First, the true, that is the actual state of a matter. We try to find out the truth. What are we trying to find out? We're trying to find out the facts. We're trying to determine that it really happened or what the true nature of something is. In other words, a synonym for this is fact. Truth equals fact. So the opposite is falsehood or a lie. The second meaning, the one that corresponds to the way the word was first coined, is conformity with reality, conformity to a fact, a verity, in other words, veracity. So when the scripture says that God is truth or God is a God of truth, he's talking about that God of talking of God's veracity, truth of a statement, conformity to a reality. We have a table in front of us, a table, I'm sitting at it, and it's of some nature of wood, okay? Now, I can touch this table, I can examine this table, and I can realize that it's not, what, plastic, it's not paper, it's not gold, it's wood, okay? So, the conformity with fact or reality. Thirdly, a verifiable or indisputable fact, such as a proposition, a principle, or the like. This is used with reference to mathematical truths, for instance, or it can even be with reference to what we might call philosophical truths or metaphysical truths. For instance, we talk about love, but love is not something that we can physically touch We know that it's a reality because we have relationships in which we feel not only love, but we act in loving ways. We know that love has an existence, although it's not material in nature. It's metaphysical in nature. It's a principle. It's an indisputable fact. And the opposite of that is falsehood, a falsity. So the state of being true, and the opposite of that would be a falsehood. And in fifthly, the actuality or actual existence. So all of these are definitions of the word true, of the word truth. So here's the biblical assertion more than once, numerous times, that God is true. and the God is the true God and the living God. Well, if you look on the worship guide at the statements of scripture that are given before the title God of truth, who is the truth, we find the following statement from John in his epistle, 1 John 5 20. He says this is something we can know. Now, if you go back to the beginning part of 1 John, you can see why he's making this assertion. Because he is an eyewitness. He knows that the Son of God has come. This is what he wrote at the very beginning of his letter. That which was from the beginning, he's talking about the Word. You have to go back to his Gospel account. He's one of those numerous witnesses who have seen it, seen Him, all that He did and all that He said. And we testify to it and we proclaim to you the eternal life. which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. So that's what he has reference to in his statement in 1 John 5, 20. And we know that the Son of God, that's Jesus of Nazareth, 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. the true God and eternal life. Now whenever Jesus or the apostles make a statement concerning the truth of God and immediately lump Jesus Christ with it, they're saying that this is one source of the eternal life. For instance, John 17 verse 3, Jesus in his prayer to the Father makes the following statement. and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Now, you cannot lump the Creator, eternal God, and at the same time a creature with him and treat it as on the same level. But that's what that statement is. So why does Jesus speak in these terms in this way? It's because Jesus is the mediator between God and man. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word who was with God and who was God became flesh. And as a human being who retains his divinity, he acts as the mediator, the one who is the go-between humanity and the eternal creator God. When the Apostle Paul describes Christian conversion of the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9, he describes it as you turn from idols to serve the living and the true God. Now my task today of trying to unfold although the scripture says about God is true, is a mammoth task. And I don't believe you want a mammoth sermon. So I'm going to try to make it simple. Hopefully I will succeed. First, when we say that God is truth, what's the first meaning? Well, we're saying that God's genuine. We're saying that he's authentic. We're saying that he exists. And this is as opposed to that which is false or fake. Now, God has a name. In fact, the attributes of God are given often in names that he gives to himself. The I am names, where God says, I am your healer. I am. the one who is there, etc. And Jesus makes these I Am statements about himself, reflecting these names of God in the Gospel of John. In fact, that's the first half of the structure of the Gospel of John. Jesus does certain acts, certain miracles, which verify that he is this reality, that he is the I Am. I Am the light of the world. Well the Bible says what about God? God is light. And Jesus says He is light. Now Yahweh is the covenant name of God. The name that He has given Himself in His relationship with His people. So Yahweh is the name of a living personal God. He is not a counterfeit. He is not a fake deity made in the image of fallen mankind, such as the gods of the nations. It's interesting how the Bible will often make fun, that's no other way to say it, it pokes fun at the idol worship of the nations. For instance, Psalm 115 is a classic example. It's also reflected in the prophecies of Isaiah and also in the prophecies of Jeremiah. And many other statements as well. Notice Psalm 115. It says, Not to us, O Yahweh, not to us, but to your name give glory for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Now, faithfulness is another meaning, by the way, of the term that is talking about God is true. God is true and God is truthful. He is reliable and faithful. Both are very related terms in Hebrew that are reflected in the biblical translations with the word true or the word faithful. Okay. Why should the nation say, where is their God? So here's Israel's response. Our God is in the heavens. He does all that He pleases. So our God is sovereign. He's in the heavens. But their idols, see the contrast. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak, eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear, noses but do not smell. They have hands but do not feel, feet but do not walk. and they do not make a sound in their throat, and those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them. Not so for Israel. Oh, Israel, trust in Yahweh. He is their help and their shield. Or as Moses sang in Deuteronomy 32, the passage that we looked at last week, And it begins with this great work. Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass and like showers upon the herb. For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh, ascribe greatness to our God, the Rock. He's talking about God, the Rock. His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He. So the very first idea concerning God as the true God is that He is genuine. He is real. He exists. He's not a make-believe God. You see, the gods of the nations, the idols are made exactly in the image of fallen man. When you hear the stories of the gods, they are the stories of mankind and man's sins and man's folly. Or they are gods that simply are reflections of natural power and phenomenon, such as a sun god or the moon god, the gods that the Japanese used to worship. the gods that the Hindus worship, or the spirit forces that the Buddhists worship, or any who worship false concepts of God. Now, lest we think that idolatry is not a temptation for Christians, the Apostle John in his letter ends it with this warning. Don't fall for idols. Don't make idols for yourselves. He's not talking about the fact that Christians might carve an idol and put it up in their house. But he wants us to stay away from even the concept of God that is not the true God. So what is our God? Well, our God is the one that we hold as supreme in our lives, is the one to whom we feel we must give an account, as the one to whom we look for strength and direction, for meaning and purpose. And if we look to something that's not the true God for those things in our lives, then we have constructed an idol. The Bible, in the Bible, the true God is the living God. He is not dead. He is alive. He is living. He is gloriously perfect, and he is the standard of all that is. Well, not only is God genuine and God is perfect and real, There are other concepts related to the idea that God is true. And one of the main ones is that God is true in the sense of integrity or of wholeness, of unity. This goes with his perfection, but it also goes with the fact that God, the living God, is a personal God of relationship. And that begins with his internal life, and then it extends to his external life. Now, what do I mean by those terms? Well, with reference to God's internal life, we're speaking about the fact that God is eternally called love. When we speak the fact that God is love, love requires an object. Love requires a communication. requires this going back and forth, and that is what is defined in the eternal God, who is made known to us in the fullness of his revelation in the New Testament as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's reflected, at least between the Father and the Son, in John chapter 1 and John chapter But let's go back again to John chapter 1 because it's speaking about John, the gospel of John, the epistles of John, and the book of Revelation. We're talking about the biblical author who spends a lot of time using the word truth and who spends quite a bit of time of talking about relationships within God, between persons of God, and between God and man. Again, John chapter 1, those famous words that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But something happened with reference to the Word. That is, in verse 14, the Word became flesh and He dwelt among us. And we have seen, John's writing personal testimony, we've seen His glory. The glory of the only Son, that means the only proper Son. from the Father, full of grace and truth. And verse 18 is a key verse. No one has ever seen God, speaking here of the Father, or God in His invisibility. The only God who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known. So how do we know God? How is the true and living God made known to us? Well, He can only be made known to us if He reveals Himself. And He did reveal Himself in our world, in time and space history, in progressive revelations, in what we now term the Old Testament era. But He purposely and primarily made Himself known in the incarnation of the Word. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. In this translation, the only God is sometimes translated the only begotten God or the one and unique God who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. So when we speak about God, who is the truth, God is the truth with reference to his internal life and his internal relations. For instance, the Father has always been the Father. This is beyond our conception. But God has always been Father, and He has always had His eternal Son, that is, the Word. That is, we know Him historically as Jesus the Messiah. the true Son of God and Son of Man, who was raised from the dead. And we are introduced, especially in John's Gospel, in John 14, 15, 16, and 17, to God the Spirit. And in fact, Jesus even uses a plural terminology in speaking of the Father and the Son, as we will come and make our abode with him," talking about those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are his disciples. And how will they do that? Well, they do that by the Spirit, the eternal Spirit who has come forth from the Father through the Son. This is what the early Christian creeds or confessions of faith had to deal with. great mystery of the person of God, the God who's invisible, but the God who has manifested himself, the God who has come to be among us. God is the God who is there, but he is also the God who is here. This is the God of truth. the God with whom we have dealings in Jesus of Nazareth. So God is true in his internal life, the eternal and internal relations of God within himself. He is eternally love. He is eternally truth. He is therefore the fountain of truth and the fountain of love. He is the original source of truth and of love. But it's also, God is true with reference to his external activities, his external actions. And what are those? Well, creation is the first one. God created. There was nothing but God, but God created. He created a vast universe. far greater than what we even know now. And this universe, especially in the world that we know, our solar system, and specifically our planet Earth, makes known the existence of God, His eternal power, and His Godhead. But God is also true not only in His creation of a world, but He is true in His providence. that is in his governing of the world. Often we do not see the hand of God when it is being played, but we see the effects of it after it has been played. In other words, God is active in the world that he has made, and especially in the circumstances of the people that belong to him, and after certain activities have happened, certain things have happened, we're able to look back and we can say and discern the very hand of God in our protection, for instance, from an imminent danger of death, our deliverance from something, or our great blessing with something that we had no conception of before God gave it to us. So God is true. He is true in his internal relations He's true in his external relations, and these external relations also includes his grace. God's grace is real. It works in the lives of people. Those who were born dead become spiritually alive. Those who were born spiritually blind have their eyes open to the reality of God and to the reality of those things that concern God. of righteousness and of truth, and of deliverance from evil and from death, from lostness to being found, from purposelessness to having purpose in life. God's dealings of grace are true and real, expressed in regeneration, which is an invisible work, and conversion, which is evident when people turn from idols, even the idols of their own making, to serve the living and the true God. But there's a second concept in the idea that God is the true God. It is the concept that God is a faithful God. He's a God who keeps his word, who keeps his promises, who is steadfast, always enduring, and who remains whole and unchanged in the reality of his being. This is how James, in his epistle, expresses this truth. James 1, verse 17, speaking about 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. Of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. So here, we're speaking about God, the fact that He is the God who is immutable, unchangeable. All that God is, He is eternally. and he will always be. Now this is how God's characteristics in nature differs from ours as creatures. Now we do have certain characteristics that we might be noted for by other people. And certain characteristics that we know about ourselves. And we also note sometimes in our lives how certain characteristics that used to mark us no longer do and we've accepted new ones. In other words, there's a change, a variation in our characters and how we behave and how we think and how we feel. But God is immutable, which means he's unchangeable. How can you change that which is perfect? To change that which is perfect would be to embrace something not perfect. God cannot cease to be God. He is always truthful. He is always true. God is eternal. He is always all that He is. He never ceases to be anything that He is. With us, our characteristics are our attributes. Our characteristics are things that we may adopt, things that we inherit. But with God, they are the way God always is. So God is the sum, but even that's an incorrect term. It's just a grasping for a term. God is His attributes. Attributes of God are not something that He has or that He can play against one another. God is His attributes. He exists in His attributes. All that God is, He is, and He is eternally. And when we talk about God, you understand that we're talking about the greatest being in the universe. We're talking about one that is so much greater than us. that we grasp for language to try to describe him. But the language that we use is true when it is part of his revelation. You see, God is faithful. God has given us his word. So what do we mean when we say God is true and God has given us his word? First of all, he's given us his word in his incarnate son, who is called the word. He is the revelation of God. If you want to know how God is, you look to Jesus. For in Jesus you see the face of God. The face of God expressed in his humanity always united with his divinity. Jesus is never one without the other. That's the great mystery of the incarnation. The Word became flesh. The Word became a human being. But He did not cease to be what He was, always and eternally. And therefore, to see Jesus in action is to see God in action. To understand the character of Jesus, Jesus is showing us the character of God in His relationships with us, His people. You see, God is a God of truth. Who is the truth? He is the God who acts truthfully. He communicates truth to us, not error. So whatever the attribute of God is, God is that. It's not a deception. For instance, the God of Islam is a God that may at one time show this to you, Another time shows something else to you, and there is no guarantee of what he will do at any given moment. That's the total opposite of the God of the Bible, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is always true to himself. His attributes are always permanent, and they are always real. They do not cease to be. And one is not superseded by another. This is why the mystery of our salvation is, in some respects, a dilemma. As Habakkuk asked it, as other prophets asked it, how can the God who is holy, pure, and just use another sinful nation to punish his people? How can God let something that is bad come against something that's not quite as bad as a corrective? How can God, who is the holy, righteous, perfect one, ever receive sinful people into His presence and ever forgive them of their sin, which is against His holy nature? As you can see, this is a dilemma that only God Himself can solve. And that's what the whole purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ is. That's what he said to Pilate. He said, I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth, the truth of who God is, and the truth of who God is, is found in the person of Jesus himself. Jesus said that he is the God who's come into the world for this For this purpose I was born, for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." What is truth, Pilate said? Well, Jesus had already told him what truth is. He told him, I came into the world to bear witness to the truth. So the truth is in God and the truth is in his son who has revealed God to us. Jesus prayed in John 17.3, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. It's found again in Paul's description of conversion. You turn to God from idols, that's repentance, to serve the living and true God. That's the result of true belief and faith in him. We turn from. that which is false to that which is true. We turn from death and its deeds to live life in union with God. This is what we would celebrate in the great truth of Christ's birth as the incarnate God. Secondly, God has given us his word of witness. And the word of God, the scripture word, the inscripturated word, It comes about by the eternal spirit whom God has given. And that spirit guided the apostles as they wrote. And that was what Jesus' prayer was about in John 14, 15, and 16, when he talked about the spirit will come and will guide you into all truth. He's not talking about Us just finding, should I take the right street or the left street? Or what job should I take? That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the guidance that the Spirit will give to those earthly witnesses of Jesus Christ as they write the word of testimony to him, which we call the New Testament. This is the written, the inscripturated word of God, which conveys to us the word of truth about the Son and about the Father. And God is faithful to His promises. God is not a guy who lies. In fact, you see, it's impossible for God to lie. Because God is truth, He cannot lie. This is what the apostle appeals to. Hebrews chapter 6, when he's talking about the great promises of God in salvation. He says in God, verse 13, For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, Surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all of their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 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. So 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 the hope set before us. The Bible asserts in more than one place that God cannot lie. He is a God who cannot lie. Why? Because He is truth and because He is the truthful God. He is the God who keeps His promises. This is why we can have confidence in our relationship with Him and why we can have confidence in His promises to us. God is not one who deceives. who conveys the reality about who he is and who always undergirds his word and undertakes with his almighty power to bring it to pass. Now that does not mean that our perception of it is that way. Our perception of God's truth dealings with us may have some contradiction within it, but in the end, We will see that God has kept his word exactly as it was promised. And we will inherit all the promises that God has made for us. This is why when Jesus would often make statements of assertion about himself, he would call himself the Amen, or he would make the Amen to that statement. He would say, Amen, Amen, I say unto thee. So what is he saying? Verily, verily, of a truth of a truth, I'm telling you the truth. That's what he's saying. I am telling you the truth without variation and without change. I am the light of the world. I am the good shepherd. I am the one in whom you know God. And I am the one who is life, as Jesus said about himself. I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. This is an introduction to what it means when the Bible says that God is truth, that God is the true God and the living God who has made himself known to us in his son Jesus Christ. and who is conveyed to us in the Word of Scripture that was inspired by that Spirit who has come from the Father through the Son. May God give us an increasing apprehension and understanding of his truthfulness and of his being the true and living God. Amen. Today our hymn of response is Into a World of War and Strife.