The Answers We Seek
Truth. The Bible does not provide a systematic account of the nature of truth in either its theological or philosophical dimensions. Nevertheless great prominence is given to the idea of truth in Scripture because God is the God of truth (Pss 31:5; 108:4; 146:6) who speaks and judges truly (Pss 57:3; 96:13). God is the God of all truth because he is the Creator, and it is impossible for him to lie (Heb 6:18).
All things exist because of his will (Eph 1:11). His will is the ultimate truth of every proposition or fact. Because of God’s will the stars continue in their orbits (Ps 147:4) and Paul and his fellow voyagers arrive safely (Acts 27:24), even though God could have willed otherwise.
True to Self
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius says it well: “This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Truth Takes Its Toll
A few days after the birth of Isaac Watts, his father, a clothier, began a jail sentence in Southampton because he believed he had the right to worship in the fellowship led by the Reverend Nathaniel Robinson rather than in the established Church of England. The elder Mr. Watts’s stand for truth did not disgrace or divide his family. Quite the opposite! Every day Mrs. Watts took tiny Isaac to the prison, and, seated on a horse block outside, fed him in sight of his incarcerated father. When Isaac was nine months old, his father began another six month’s imprisonment for the same cause—religious freedom! Was it not love of truth, love of freedom, love of family, love of Christ, that impelled Watts to demonstrate such demanding integrity? Was young Isaac absorbing homilies of truth to be expressed later in his magnificent hymns?
Unless We Love the Truth, We Cannot Know It
2 Thessalonians 2:10
Preaching Themes: Truth
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.
BLAISE PASCAL
True to Self
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius says it well: “This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Truth Takes Its Toll
A few days after the birth of Isaac Watts, his father, a clothier, began a jail sentence in Southampton because he believed he had the right to worship in the fellowship led by the Reverend Nathaniel Robinson rather than in the established Church of England. The elder Mr. Watts’s stand for truth did not disgrace or divide his family. Quite the opposite! Every day Mrs. Watts took tiny Isaac to the prison, and, seated on a horse block outside, fed him in sight of his incarcerated father. When Isaac was nine months old, his father began another six month’s imprisonment for the same cause—religious freedom! Was it not love of truth, love of freedom, love of family, love of Christ, that impelled Watts to demonstrate such demanding integrity? Was young Isaac absorbing homilies of truth to be expressed later in his magnificent hymns?
True to Self
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius says it well: “This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
Truth Takes Its Toll
A few days after the birth of Isaac Watts, his father, a clothier, began a jail sentence in Southampton because he believed he had the right to worship in the fellowship led by the Reverend Nathaniel Robinson rather than in the established Church of England. The elder Mr. Watts’s stand for truth did not disgrace or divide his family. Quite the opposite! Every day Mrs. Watts took tiny Isaac to the prison, and, seated on a horse block outside, fed him in sight of his incarcerated father. When Isaac was nine months old, his father began another six month’s imprisonment for the same cause—religious freedom! Was it not love of truth, love of freedom, love of family, love of Christ, that impelled Watts to demonstrate such demanding integrity? Was young Isaac absorbing homilies of truth to be expressed later in his magnificent hymns?
We know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart.
BLAISE PASCAL
Boots On
Matthew 5:11; 1 Peter 2:12
Preaching Themes: Slander, Truth, Honesty, Complaining
It is a great deal easier to set a story afloat than to stop it. If you want truth to go around the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go around the world, it will fly. It is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old proverb, “A lie will go around the world while truth is pulling its boots on.” Nevertheless, it does not injure us; for if light as a feather it travels as fast, its effect is just about as tremendous as the effect of down when it is blown against the walls of a castle. It produces no damage whatever, on account of its lightness and littleness.
Fear not, Christian. Let slander fly, let envy send forth its forked tongue, let it hiss at you; your bow shall abide in strength.
CHARLES SPURGEON
Boots On
Matthew 5:11; 1 Peter 2:12
Preaching Themes: Slander, Truth, Honesty, Complaining
It is a great deal easier to set a story afloat than to stop it. If you want truth to go around the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go around the world, it will fly. It is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old proverb, “A lie will go around the world while truth is pulling its boots on.” Nevertheless, it does not injure us; for if light as a feather it travels as fast, its effect is just about as tremendous as the effect of down when it is blown against the walls of a castle. It produces no damage whatever, on account of its lightness and littleness.
Fear not, Christian. Let slander fly, let envy send forth its forked tongue, let it hiss at you; your bow shall abide in strength.
CHARLES SPURGEON