WHAT IS YOUR STANDARD
FOR TRUTH?
by
Ivan Maddox
What is your standard for truth? What yardstick do you use to separate truth
from error, to determine what is the truth from God, and what is a lie?
We often make the statement, “The Bible is our only rule for
faith and practice.” While
that seems like a very simple statement, it is not an easy statement to live up
to.
The Bible is the revealed Word of God. It is God’s will for
our lives in print. God has laid out for
us in the Bible who we are, where we came from, what’s wrong with the world in
general, what’s wrong with us in particular, and what God has done about it
through “[that] man whom he hath ordained...” (Acts 17:31), whom He raised from
the dead, Jesus Christ.
Most people would consider doing what you want, when you
want, how you want, and having what you want, when you want it, how you want
it, the closest thing possible to paradise. God considers this the very essence of sin.
Isaiah 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all.
The opposite of going God’s way is going your own way. If you are doing your own will, you are not
doing God’s will. “Doing your own thing”
is nothing less than rebellion against God.
Proverbs 3:5-7.
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine
own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
We have a choice now. Either we can follow our own understanding, or
we can follow what the Lord says. We
cannot do both. And God’s direction for
us comes first and foremost from His written Word. Nothing He says to us today by revelation will
ever contradict what He has written to us in His Word.
Most of us grew up with multiple rules concerning what to
believe and what to do. Our parents provided
one set of rules. Our schools provided
another. Our friends and acquaintences provided
another. Our churches provided another. Our employers provided another. Our
governments provided another. Our spouses and children provided another. Our
own needs and desires provided still another.
Much of our growth with God involves elevating the Word of
God over each and every area of our lives. As we do this, these other areas of influence
don’t disappear; instead, they take their proper place under the authority of
the Word of God. To the extent that we
have not done this, to that extent we have accepted another rule for faith and
practice in the place that properly belongs to God’s Word.
Words are designed to convey a specific message from one
person to one or more others. If the
message is received and understood as intended, successful communication has
taken place. If the message received is
not what the speaker intended to say, a miscommunication has taken place, and
the hearers are left in the dark as to what was being said to them.
God’s Words are designed to convey a specific message from
God to mankind. One thing that is very easy
to forget when reading God’s Word is that God knows what He meant! God is an excellent communicator. (He invented communication!) Therefore, any
miscommunication between God and ourselves is due to
error on our part.
The book of Job deals with a man, named Job, who had lost
almost everything he had, being visited by some of his friends, who did their
best to comfort and counsel him. They
spend most of the book talking about God, and about how He works with,
instructs, and corrects men. They
disagree on several things, but then, how many people agree on anything when
they’re talking about God?
It’s harder to think of a healthier, more constructive or
edifying way for a group of men to spend their time than talking about God,
sharing their thoughts and their ideas about God. But this conversation ended with a reality
cheek: God showed up.
God addressed Job first, telling him in effect, “Since you
know so much, let me ask you a few questions.” In chapters 38, 39, 40 and 41, God lays out
for Job His credentials. Job had called
into question the rightness of God’s handling of things toward him. God called him on it.
Job 40:8, 11-12, 14
8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?...
11 Cast abroad the rage of thy
wrath: and behold every one [that is] proud, and abase him.
12 Look on every one [that is] proud, [and] bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place...
14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.
Job responded with utter meekness toward God.
Job 42:5-6.
5 I have heard of thee by the
hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6 Wherefore I abhor [myself], and
repent in dust and ashes.
Then God turned His attention to Job’s three friends.
Job 42:7-8.
7 And it was [so], that after the
LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz
the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and
against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me [the thing that is]
right, as my servant Job [hath].
8 Therefore take unto you now seven
bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves
a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept:
lest I deal with you [after your] folly, in that ye have not spoken of me [the
thing which is] right, like my servant Job.
What was so wrong about what they were doing? All they were doing was sharing with each
other their ideas about God. The problem
was that what they were saying about God wasn’t true. After all, how would you feel if people sat
around saying things about you that weren’t true?
God made it clear that He was angry with them for not
speaking the truth about Him. As a
result, they were in danger of God dealing with them according to their folly. To turn away God’s wrath, they were required
to offer up a blood sacrifice for their sin.
The sacrifice they offered represented the body and blood of
Jesus Christ, which he would one day offer up to God for the remission of sins.
What this means is that it took the
death of Jesus Christ to pay for their running off at the mouth about God!
Many people today seem to think that anybody and everybody
has a right to think and say anything they want about God. They’re right. And if God were a product of man’s
imagination, or if God were someone other than the God who wrote the Bible,
that would be the end of the matter.
But God is real, and in this record He has made it very
clear that He cares very much about what people say about Him. Jesus warned us that we will have to answer to
God for every word we speak.
Mattthew
12:36.
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
account thereof in the day of judgment.
If God is that concerned about our “small talk,” how much
more concerned is He when we speak about Him?
The warning here is not that we should not speak about God,
but that we should take great care to speak that which is true about God.
Job and his friends did not have the Bible, or any part of
it. Notice that Job offered the
sacrifices for his friends. Job was not,
so far as we know, of the line of Aaron; but he could legitimately offer
sacrifices as head of the house because Job was not under the Law of Moses. Yet God expected Job and his friends to know
and speak the truth about Him. How much
more does He expect us, who have His Word at our fingertips, to speak truly
about Him!
There was one man in the book of Job who didn’t get reproved
by God for anything he said. That man
was Elihu. When
Elihu spoke, he was never answered by Job or Job’s
friends, and after Elihu spoke, God spoke.
Job had complained to his friends earlier in the book that
one problem with bringing your case to God is that He is always God, and you
are always only a man. Job wished he
could find a mediator, one who could represent God to him.
Job 9:32-33.
32 For [he is] not a man, as I [am,
that] I should answer him, [and] we should come together in judgment.
33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, [that] might
lay his hand upon us both.
Job wanted to talk with a human being who represented God;
someone he wouldn’t have to be afraid of. God answered Job’s request in Elihu. In that
sense, Elihu foreshadowed Jesus Christ.
Job 33:6-7.
6 Behold, I [am] according to thy
wish in God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay.
7 Behold, my terror shall not make
thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.
Here’s the good news: when you speak about God in accordance with what He Himself has said in His Word, when you speak rightly about God, you are “in God’s stead” to the person to whom you are speaking. In New Testament terms, you are an “ambassador for Christ." (II Corinthians 5:20)