Faithful and True

Opening Verse: Psalm 18:30

Psalm 18:30 ESV

30 This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

PRAY

Introduction

How many of you have known someone who had trouble with the truth? This person and truth just don’t get along very well.

How much can you trust a person like that?

If they make promises to you, do you believe they’ll do what they said?

All of us have had people break promises to us, and if we’re honest, none of us have been perfectly faithful to our word either.

But there is one who is faithful and true.

Although we are surrounded by lies and deception in this world, there is someone who always speaks the truth and who always does what He promises to do.

We’re concluding our series on the attributes of God today with these two attributes which are closely related: God’s truthfulness and faithfulness. These are communicable attributes of God, meaning that they are perfectly true of Him and they ought to be increasing true of us as believers as we seek to become more like Christ.

God’s Truthfulness

Definition: “God’s truthfulness means that he is the true God, and all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.”

God is the only true God (Jeremiah 10:10-11; John 17:3; 1 John 5:20).

Jeremiah tells us,

Jeremiah 10:10–11 ESV

10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. 11 Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”

Jesus says this in His high priestly prayer in John 17:

John 17:3 ESV

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

And John says at the end of 1 John,

1 John 5:20 ESV

20 And we know that the Son of God 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. He is the true God and eternal life.

There is only one living and true God. Every other so-called god is an impostor, a liar.

God’s knowledge and understanding is true and the standard of truth. (Job 37:16)

Job 37:16 ESV

16 Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,

How many of our thoughts and ideas are wrong or misinformed? If you ever change your mind because of new information you didn’t previously know, hopefully you realize that your understanding of what is true and real is fallible.

But God isn’t. God never has wrong ideas. He is never ignorant or misinformed. No one ever has to correct him. He’s not on the wrong side of history.

God’s words are always true (John 17:17).

Again, Jesus in His high priestly prayer for His apostles and for us says,

John 17:17 ESV

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

God’s Word is not just true, but it is truth itself. And its truth is the means of our sanctification — the reality of God’s Word shapes and forms us into the image of Christ.

We can’t always trust other books or sources of information. You can’t believe everything you read on the internet. But you can and should trust everything in God’s Word, because it’s all true.

God loves truth and hates falsehood (Proverbs 12:22; Revelation 21:8)

Proverbs tells us,

Proverbs 12:22 ESV

22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.

Dishonesty is an abomination to the LORD — He hates it. Abomination is the same word that is used in Leviticus to describe how God feels about homosexuality. It is abhorrent, repugnant to Him. And so is lying. God detests it.

But He delights in honesty and faithfulness.

Lying is one of the characteristics of those whose eternal destiny is the lake of fire, John tells us in Revelation:

Revelation 21:8 ESV

8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Notice that dishonesty is on par with many sins that we would probably consider much more serious. But truth is really important to God, and that’s because…

God is the God of truth (Isaiah 65:16; John 14:6)

Isaiah tells us,

Isaiah 65:16 ESV

16 so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.

And John tells us one of the “I AM” statements of Jesus:

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus in His person is the embodiment of God’s truth.

So God is the true God, and all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.

Closely related to God’s truthfulness is another attribute of God,

God’s Faithfulness:

Definition: “God’s faithfulness means that God will always do what he has said and fulfill what he has promised.”

We might say that God’s faithfulness is His truthfulness applied specifically to the things that He says He will do or will not do. When God promises something, it is true.

God’s words are always reliable or trustworthy. (Deuteronomy 32:4; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 10:23; Revelation 21:5)

In a song that he was teaching to Israel before they entered the promised land, Moses reminds them of God’s character:

Deuteronomy 32:4 ESV

4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Paul says to the Corinthians,

1 Corinthians 1:9 ESV

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

and to the Thessalonians, Paul writes,

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 ESV

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

The security of our salvation does not rest on our ability to hold onto God, but on His unshakeable faithfulness to His promises. He started the good work in you, and He will finish it. If you belong to Him, He will not give up on you, because He has promised to keep you, and He keeps His promises.

This is the same motivation that the author of Hebrews reaches toward as he encourages his readers to keep clinging to Christ:

Hebrews 10:23 ESV

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Others who make promises to us may break them, but God will not.

John also tells us that not only is His promise of salvation trustworthy, but His promise to restore all creation is also trustworthy:

Revelation 21:5 ESV

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

God always keeps his promises (Numbers 11:23; Joshua 21:43-45; Psalm 18:30; Proverbs 30:5)

In Numbers 11, the people of Israel are once again complaining about their situation as they’re wandering through the desert. Their memory gets a little foggy and they start saying things like

“Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” (v. 4-6)

Miracle bread from heaven just wasn’t cutting it. We want meat!

Well, the LORD was displeased with their complaining, and Moses was very frustrated too. So Moses starts complaining to the LORD and says,

“Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. (v. 11-14)

In response, God tells Moses to gather 70 other men to help him shoulder the load of leadership, and then God promises that He will in fact give people meat, just as they demanded. He tells Moses to tell the people,

Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?” ’ (v. 18-20)

Moses responds,

“The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?”

This is the same Moses who saw God in the burning bush, who watched God perform 10 plagues on Egypt and bring Israel out, who saw God open up the Red Sea so they could walk through on dry land, and then met God on Mount Sinai and received His Law. Not to mention all the manna and water God has already provided and ten thousand other ways He has already shown His power and goodness.

If anyone has a reason to trust God’s faithfulness to His word, it’s Moses. But even Moses doubts. I think that’s encouraging for us.

In response to Moses’s objection,

Numbers 11:23 ESV

23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”

God can and will do what He says He will do, no matter how impossible it seems to us.

Joshua tells us of God’s faithfulness to His promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:

Joshua 21:43–45 ESV

43 Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. 45 Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

David tells us in Psalm 18,

Psalm 18:30 ESV

30 This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

And Proverbs repeats the same idea:

Proverbs 30:5 ESV

5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus

Oh for grace to trust Him more.

God cannot lie or be unfaithful (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18)

Paul tells us what God can’t do:

Titus 1:2 ESV

2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

And the author of Hebrews tells us that God’s faithfulness to His promises to Abraham gives us encouragement to trust the promises He makes to us, because it is impossible for God to lie:

Hebrews 6:18 ESV

18 so that 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 to the hope set before us.

Application:

This is a communicable attribute of God—a character quality that we ought to seek to imitate.

Truth ought to be very important to us (Psalm 15:2; Proverbs 13:5; Zechariah 8:17).

—both knowledge of truth and communication of truth; we must love truth and hate falsehood

Psalm 15:2 ESV

2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart;

Proverbs 13:5 ESV

5 The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace.

Zechariah 8:17 ESV

17 do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”

We must avoid all lying and dishonesty (Colossians 3:9-10; Ephesians 4:25).

Colossians 3:9–10 ESV

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Ephesians 4:25 ESV

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

In our witness to others, we must only speak what is true (2 Corinthians 4:2).

2 Corinthians 4:2 ESV

2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

We must keep our promises even when it hurts or is inconvenient (Psalm 15:4).

Psalm 15:4 ESV

4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change;