In the church, we talk a lot about the truth. This morning, I want to discuss the concept of truth, what it means in relation to God, and how that impacts our behavior as Christians.

What is truth?

When Jesus stood before Pilate, He said that He came into the world to bear witness of the truth.

“Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?'” (John 18:38)

While Pilate meant it derisively, this is a good question.

Truth is that which accords with reality. In other words, something is true if it matches what exists. Truth is dependent on reality.

For example, my eyes are brown. You can come and gaze into them yourselves to see that this is true. Our senses do not determine reality, but they allow us to perceive it. Unless you are colorblind or even totally blind, you can easily see that my eyes are brown—a nice muddy color.

Now, if I were to announce that my eyes are blue, I would be lying. Why? The truth matches reality. My eyes are really brown.

That said, it’s possible for multiple aspects of something to simultaneously be true. If you were to say, “Well, your eyes are actually white,” you wouldn’t be lying. My eyes are white. They are also brown. Just looking at the words, you might think these statements contradict. However, we all know how it’s possible for my eyes to be both white and brown.

Technically, for one of my eyes, the sclera (the exterior of the eyeball) is white, the iris is brown, the pupil is black, the cornea is clear, and the retina is red. These statements are much more detailed and give us a more complete picture of the truth. Parts of the truth are still true, but they are incomplete.

In our search for the truth, we do not want an incomplete puzzle, but a comprehensive picture that perfectly reflects reality. Where can we find that? As Christians, we respond by looking to God.

God is real.

In philosophy, God is referred to as the “Necessary Being”. This basically means that God is the only being who must exist. The universe doesn’t have to exist. Neither do blue chairs or bronze statues of Julius Caesar. God is necessary, however.

As a matter of fact, there is an entire family of arguments for the existence of God based on this concept. These are known as ontological arguments, and they will give you a migraine after about 30 minutes of contemplation.

Reality cannot exist without God in it. God is the ultimate reality. God is inherently true. If He exists no matter what, then He is true no matter what!

Truth is fundamental to God’s nature. It’s inseparable from His existence. We already established that truth can have parts, but the truth includes every aspect of truth. In order for God to be true, every part of Him must be true. We will never find some particle of deceit, dishonesty, or untruth in God.

You can believe in God.

The first implication of God being truth is that we can believe in Him. If God really is truth, then our faith is legitimate. While this concept seems simple, it’s much more profound than atheism and idolatry, which profess a sincere belief in things that are made up.

God really, truly exists. An idol does not. The Ephesian idol-makers rioted against Paul’s preaching, fuming that

“not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable crowd, saying that things made with hands are not gods.” (Acts 19:26)

When Paul taught the same truth to the Gentiles in Thessalonica, they received the message gladly. Paul said this:

“For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God…” (1 Thess 1:9)

Serving a living and true God is different from serving an idol that I fashion myself. Because God exists on His own in reality, I cannot conform Him to my wishes. Instead, my will is subject to Someone else’s.

Because God is true, you owe it to believe in and serve Him—and no other.

Do not be deceived.

Then we come to the words of God. They are all true, even when our senses and intellects deceive us. You may be colorblind and perceive that my eyes are grey, but that doesn’t change the truth.

“May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar…” (Rom 3:4)

Our wisdom and knowledge must come from God if we want to be right. Yet sometimes we fall prey to our own wisdom. Jesus chastised the Pharisees for this attitude.

“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.

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 because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?'” (John 8:42–46)

Deception will inevitably lead to sin. If all lies are of the Devil, then all lies are tools he uses to lure you into sin.

Speak only the truth.

“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Rev 21:8)

God takes lying very seriously. As His children, we are supposed to be of the truth. We must speak the truth to one another as well as to ourselves.

One of the most important instances of this rule is the concept of confession. To confess something is to speak the same thing as another. When Paul talks about the “common confession” in 1 Timothy 3:16, he means a series of facts about the gospel which Christians would say together. When we sing hymns, we confess the truth together.

The apostle John describes a different kind of confession:

“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8–10)

In this case, we confess our sins not just to God, but with God. God already knows we have sinned, and He tells us so. God wants for us to admit the truth and own up to our actions.

By confessing our sins, we speak the truth.

God is immutable.

Immutable is just a fancy word for “unchanging”. The related word mutate means to change or transform from one form into another.

God is immutable. He does not mutate. He doesn’t exist one way and then exist another way. God doesn’t change form. His character isn’t fickle and shaky like ours. Instead, God is constant and unchanging. He is immutable.

This is actually very easy to prove if we believe in an eternal God, even without the Bible. What do you mean, Andrew?

Let’s think about this. In Genesis 1, God creates time along with the other dimensions. Time, up, down, and side-to-side were all created at once. This means that God isn’t confined by any of them. God exists outside of all dimensions, including time. We call this eternity.

“In” eternity (which is neither a place nor a time itself), nothing can change. Regardless of what definition you use for time, time is essentially a measure of change. As soon as something changes, you can measure time from that point forward. If God exists outside the bounds of time, He exists outside the world of changes. God Himself has to be unchangeable.

I can appreciate how much this might make your head hurt to think about, so I won’t dwell on it any further. If the mental exercise does not satisfy you, never fear: Scripture comes out and states the exact same thing about God.

“For I, the Lord, do not change.” (Mal 3:6)

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb 13:8)

You can know what to expect from God.

God’s immutability means that if God is to be God, His nature and attributes must be fixed both outside of time and across time.

I like the way A. W. Tozer explained this:

“God cannot change for the better. Since He is perfectly holy, He has never been less holy than He is now and can never be holier than He is and has always been. Neither can God change for the worse, Any deterioration within the unspeakably holy nature of God is impossible.”¹

Are there limits to God’s immutability? Let’s consider this for a moment. We know that God’s attributes are immutable. This includes His knowledge, moral character, power, holiness, love, etc.

But we also see that God can “change His mind” regarding choice of punishment (or decision to punish) based on the decisions of man. In fact, He must do so in order to remain perfectly holy and just—some of those characteristics which do not change.

“Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.'” (Jonah 3:4)

Then the Assyrians repent. They put on sackcloth and ashes and return to God—which was the goal in the first place. Look at the result:

“When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” (Jonah 3:10)

God did not truly “change His mind”. Yet He uses that language to help us understand.

Live a consistent life.

You don’t have to worry about God’s moral standards shifting or changing through time. If you want to live right, all you have to do is see what God says. I love the way the Apostle John describes living uprightly:

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5–7)

John speaks of “practicing” or “doing” the truth. How do you practice truth? While it’s true that my eyes are brown, all I can do is admit that. I cannot practice that element of truth. In his second epistle, John uses this phrase:

“I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.” (2 John 1:4)

Practicing the truth…walking in truth…how? By living like God. If God is true in every way, then His other characteristics (goodness, love, mercy, justice, etc.) all reflect truth as well. When we live a pure and holy lifestyle, we reflect the truth.

A man who is faithful to his wife and a woman who submits to her husband reflect the truth of their relationship and commitment to one another. By working hard and not complaining, we reflect the truth of our duty as humans. When we preach the Gospel, we live out the truth it contains.

The truth of God compels us to live like God and to be constant in doing so. If we only live faithfully when we feel like it, we aren’t very faithful. God is unchanging and unwavering, and He expects the same of us.

God is faithful.

Faithfulness is the attribute of God that means He does what He says He will do. When God makes a statement, we can believe it and trust it completely. God’s faithfulness leads to us having faith.

You can trust God’s promises.

The promises of Someone who cannot lie mean more than anyone else’s.

“For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.’

And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.” (Heb 6:13–18)

Keep your word.

“But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.” (Jas 5:12)

1. Knowledge of the Holy, p. 90. ↩